Combourg Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Combourg Castle was founded around 1016 by Archbishop Junkenéus to protect his fief, on a natural mound. Rebuilt between the 12th and 15th centuries (drawbridge, machicolations), it passed through the hands of the Dol, Soligné, Châteaugiron-Malestroit and Coëtquen families before being acquired in 1761 by René-Auguste de Chateaubriand, father of the writer, whose family settled there from 1763. François-René de Chateaubriand spent twelve years of his youth there and immortalised it in his *Mémoires d'outre-tombe*, notably recounting local legends of a ghost with a wooden leg and a spectral black cat. A restoration carried out in 1866 and 1878 by the architect Ernest Thrile, a pupil of Viollet-le-Duc, introduced Troubadour-style elements and an English-style park laid out by the Bühler brothers. The façades, roofs, guard room and vestibule have been listed as Monuments historiques since August 1966, the remainder having been registered since December 1926. Still owned by the family of the Comte de La Tour du Pin Verclause, the castle is open to visitors.