The Château d'Oiron has its origins in the 15th century war with the English for control of France when a victorious Charles VII of France gave the domain and great forest of Oiron to Guillaume Gouffier who became governor of Touraine.
Guillaume Gouffier built a magnificent château and his offspring updated and improved it. In 1538, his daughter-in-law, Helene de Hengest, was responsible for the construction of a collegiate church adjacent to the château. In 1551, Henry II and his entire court were guests of Claude Gouffier who had been granted the title Marquis de Caravaz. Claude Gouffier served as the model for Charles Perrault's 'Marquis de Carabas' in his story, Puss in Boots.
Two generations later, another Gouffier was exiled from the king's court by Cardinal Richelieu in 1620. In the mid 17th century, Charlotte Gouffier became enamored with the renowned intellect, Blaise Pascal (1623–62), who spent considerable time at the Château d'Oiron. After Pascal died, Charlotte Gouffier married Francois d'Aubusson, the duc de La Feuillade, who enhanced the castle with his wealth and connections to Louis XIV. With the renovations, the castle ended up with a main building and two long projecting wings, one of which is a Renaissance structure built over a cloister. One of the galleries contains one of the most prestigious works of art from the French Renaissance period.
The Duc de La Feuillade's son sold the château to Louis XIV's mistress, Madame de Montespan who lived there for the rest of her life. Her son had little interest in the property as he preferred to be much closer to the royal court so in 1736 he sold the château to the Duc de Villeroi. After that, the château went into severe decline and in 1793 was ransacked by Revolutionaries. For many years the château lay abandoned until the government of France took possession just before World War II eventually converting it to a museum.
Recognized worldwide, the museum is dedicated to contemporary art.
References:The ancient Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.
The Hellenistic theater at Argos is cut into the hillside of the Larisa, with 90 steps up a steep incline, forming a narrow rectilinear cavea. Among the largest theaters in Greece, it held about 20,000 spectators and is divided by two landings into three horizontal sections. Staircases further divide the cavea into four cunei, corresponding to the tribes of Argos A high wall was erected to prevent unauthorized access into the theatron and may have helped the acoustics, but it is said the sound quality is still very good today.
Around 120 CE, both theaters were renovated in the Roman style.