Onzain Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Onzain Castle, surrounded by a moat, lies in the new commune of Veuzain-sur-Loire (Loir-et-Cher). The site was occupied as early as the year 1000, and the castle is said to have been commissioned in the 13th century by the lords of Bury, vassals of the Count of Blois. It was rebuilt at the end of the 14th century by the brothers Hélion and Guillaume de Neillac, who were close to Kings Charles V and VI, and was then expanded in the 16th century into a large L-shaped castle by Anne de Polignac and François II de La Rochefoucauld, who kept the original keep. Charles de Rostaing embellished it and created gardens there in the 17th century; under the Perrachon family (1720–1753), the castle hosted Voltaire. Demolished during the ‘bande noire’ campaign between 1823 and 1826 and subsequently broken up, the site, known today as ‘Les Douves d'Onzain’, houses a museum fitted out in the surviving tower, along with exhibition spaces. It has been listed as a monument historique since 31 March 2014.