Château de Montsoreau

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de Montsoreau is a French castle in the Gothic and Renaissance styles, located in the Loire Valley, in the commune of Montsoreau in the south-east of the Maine-et-Loire department, in the Pays de la Loire region. Since 8 April 2016, it has housed the Château de Montsoreau – Museum of Contemporary Art. Built on a strategic site, on a rocky promontory at the confluence of the Loire and the Vienne, it lies at the meeting point of three regions: Anjou, Poitou and Touraine. A transitional building between the fortified castle and the urban palace, it is distinguished by being the only château on the Loire built directly in the riverbed. The Château de Montsoreau has been immortalised on numerous occasions, notably by Alexandre Dumas in his novel *La Dame de Monsoreau*, written between 1845 and 1846; by J. M. W. Turner in a watercolour depicting the château and the Bec de Vienne; by François Rabelais in *Gargantua*, which awards Montsoreau to Ithybole after his victory; and by Auguste Rodin, who idealised it in a drawing held at the Musée Rodin. Listed as a monument historique in 1862, it is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the inscription of the whole Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes-sur-Loire.