Château du Riau

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château du Riau is located east of the village of Villeneuve-sur-Allier, in the Allier department. It was built in the 15th century by Charles Popillon, an officer of the Dukes of Bourbon, then completed with outbuildings in the 16th and 17th centuries; around 1750, the main residence was enlarged with two new wings. The château is distinguished by a keep in red and black brick flanked by two turrets, the whole being surrounded by moats forming a quadrilateral. The estate also includes a polychrome brick dovecote and a half-timbered tithe barn whose roof frame bears the date 1584. The property was acquired in 1689 by the comte des Gouttes, then belonged to Jean-Antoine de Charry des Gouttes, a naval officer, before passing in 1826 to Pierre Le Roy de Chavigny, prefect of the Allier. It now belongs to the Durye family, descendants by marriage of the prefect. The château preserves a collection of canvases by the Impressionist painter Emmanuel de La Villéon (1858-1944). The facades, roofs, moats, staircases, gates and courtyard paving are protected as historic monuments by several orders (1946, 1977, 1991). The château is open for guided tours in season.