Chateau de Chenonceau

The romantic château, or castle, of Chenonceau in France's Loire Valley has a rich history. Begun in the 16th century, it is often referred to as the château des femmes as it was traditionally a castle for women as reflected by its many female residents.

It was built in 1513 by Katherine Briçonnet. The castle was eventually sold to the crown and Henry II gave it to his older mistress, Dianne de Poitiers. She is responsible for expanding Chenonceau Castle over the set of arches spanning the River Cher, giving the appearance that the château is floating on water.

After Henry's death, his wife Catherine de Medici took over the château and developed the beautiful gardens. In turn Catherine bequeathed Chenonceau to her daughter-in-law Louise of Lorraine. The castle was later saved from the ravages of the French Revolution by another woman, Louise Dupin. Chenonceau was restored to its original glory in 1950.

An audio tour can be downloaded to your ipod at the official web site. Under "Chateau & History" in the top menu bar, click on "Tour of the Chateau". This provides an unbelievable 360 degree tour of several rooms! You can zoom in and out with + and - at lower left of photo. Click on any of the arrows in the lower left under "Tour" to go to different rooms and floors. But above all, in each room, place your cursor over the picture and drag it around for that 360 degree view! Don't forget to go up and down to see the entire ceiling and floor.

Do the same 360 degree tour for "Parks & Gardens" and see the entire chateau and garden area. If you would like to "see" all those women of Chenonceau, go to the "Galerie des Dames" in the top menu bar of this web site. And of course you need to know how to correctly pronounce Chenonceau. Click on "Standard Pronunciation" beside the blue arrow. Now you're a pro!