En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château de Mursay, on the left bank of the Sèvre Niortaise in Échiré (Deux-Sèvres), was originally a medieval outpost of the fortress of Coudray-Salbart, transformed between 1596 and 1613 into a pleasure château. It was the residence of Agrippa d'Aubigné, baroque poet and squire to the future King Henri IV, who is said to have spent "the happiest days of his life" there in 1576; d'Aubigné was the grandfather of Madame de Maintenon, born Françoise d'Aubigné. The Allée du Roy, planted with three-hundred-year-old lime trees, commemorates this royal stay. Classified as a historic monument, the château now appears as a garden of ruins, the building having been constructed on a terrace supported by piles to protect it from the river's floods. Individual access to the grounds is free all year round; 90-minute guided group tours are offered by reservation by the association Les Amis du Château de Mursay.