Château de Courtanvaux, Bessé-sur-Braye, France

Château de Courtanvaux was originally built in the 14th century. It was enlarged and restored in 1450-1490. The Renaissance style appearance was built by Souvré family who owned castle between 1500-1661 and current Neo-gothic style restoration took place in the 19th century. The chateau was owned by three families until 1978.

Today there is 68 hectares of park around the chateau. The park is open to the public and the castle in summer season.

User Reviews

Kim Cook (2 years ago)
Lovely tree lined approach and plenty of free parking with shady areas. This is well worth a visit, the guided tour was really good.

Louise Veaser-Woods (2 years ago)
Very nice place and friendly guide, would recommend to anyone who likes history. The guide also spoke very good English to explain the details of the chateau.

Jayakumar Radhakrishnan (3 years ago)
Hidden Gem

Ian Walshaw (4 years ago)
Interesting tour of the chateau hosted by a knowledgeable guide who made the effort to translate some of it into English for us. Large areas of parkland and woodland to walk around.

Deanne Gater (6 years ago)
Beautiful chateau. Very interesting exhibition.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Staffan O Andersson

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Before the arrival of Christianity in Sweden, Gamla Uppsala was the seat of Swedish kings and a ceremonial site known all over northern Europe. The settlement was home to royal palaces, a royal burial ground, and a great pagan temple. The Uppsala temple, which was described in detail by Adam of Bremen in the 1070s, housed wooden statues of the Norse gods Odin, Thor and Freyr. A golden chain hung across its gables and the inside was richly decorated with gold. The temple had priests, who sacrificed to the gods according to the needs of the people.

The first Christian cathedral was probably built in the 11th century, but finished in the 12th century. The stone building may have been preceded by a wooden church and probably by the large pagan temple.

Château de Courtanvaux

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