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We visited the Chateau of Langeais on a rather cold and damp day in April. Several of the rooms were fire heated and they did feel good.
Langeais is located in the Loire valley near the town west of Tours. Unlike many of the Loire valley chateaux, which are hunting lodges and pleasure palaces, Langeais is a fortress chateau built for defense of the Loire valley. It presents an interesting contrast to the other chateaux.
The first defenses were built here in either the late 10th century or the early 11th century. Remains from these original fortifications are still to be found in the garden.
The current fortress was started in the 15th century but became obsolete before it was completed. Thus, it never saw battle. It then passed through the centuries and the hands of several important people of France as a home or retreat, giving it a small place in history. In 1491, the year before Columbus came to America, Charles VIII married Anne of Brittany here at Langeais. This was significant in that it made the region of Brittany a permanent part of France.
The last private owner of the chateau restored the building and filled it with collections of furniture, artwork, and tapistries--many of which date to before the 16th century.
We visited Langeais to see a different form of Chateau. What we found was a wonderful collection of history demonstrating how the wealthy would have lived many, many years ago. There was so much detail to see, that we could not see it all. In fact, by the end of the day it was obvious the children were tired of history and needed a chance to play. We took them to the gardens where they found several snails and, with some other children, held snail races. When shown pictures of our visit Juli remarks "That's where the snails are!"
We assumed that Alex would have the same memory. But his comments have shown that he also enjoyed the many rooms of art and tapestries. For the kids and Brian, this is one of our favorite chateaux.
The photographs below show many of the details we observed. As mentioned, the collection was large and so there are many photos.
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