Contacts

The address: 37600 Loches, France

Telephone: +33 2 47 59 01 32

Opening hours: from 09:00 to 19:00

Price: 7€, from 7 to 16 years 4.5€, up to 6 years free

Official site: www.chateau-loches.fr

The territory of France is filled with various attractions, including many majestic buildings. A special place among them is occupied by unique and beautiful castles. Each of them has its own special history and unique architecture. However, more attention should be paid to the most beautiful of them - Loches Castle (Chateau de Loches). It is the oldest building built in the Middle Ages.

The castle is located near Paris in provincial town Loches south of the river Indre. Unfortunately, it has reached our days in a dilapidated form, but this gives it even greater significance and value. Let's talk in more detail about this extraordinary building, which reminds us of the history of past centuries.

Loches Castle and its history

The history of this majestic building began in the 9th century, when its future lands were in the possession of the Anjou Count Fulk I the Red. It was he who instructed his subordinates to build a castle. However, the construction (at that time, made of wood) was limited to a wooden tower, which protected the nearby settlement, connected to it by a tunnel in the rocks.

After the death of Fulk the Red, the building was inherited by the cruel and bloodthirsty Fulk Nerr, obsessed with his safety, he gives the order to build a stone fortress on the site of a wooden tower. Despite its modest size: 38 meters high and 25 meters wide, the donjon made the castle an inaccessible fortress. The thickness of the walls, which is three meters, as well as the installation of devices that covered the ill-wishers with boiling tar and shells, easily prevented any attempts to capture the castle.

In 1040, Nerr dies, but according to his will, the body remains forever buried in the territory of the Loches castle. The powerful building becomes the property of the successor of Count Geoffoy Martel d'Anjou. He defeats the enemy of his ancestor and is engaged in strengthening and expanding the fortress. This period is considered the heyday of the castle, it was then that most of its fortifications were erected.

At the turn of the XI-XII centuries. the hereditary structure of the counts is in decline, the last heir of the county family becomes engaged to the daughter of the king of England, and their son Henry Plantagenet becomes the king of England and opens a war with the French monarch Philip-August, who takes away from the young ruler most of the inherited possessions, including Losches. Further, the owners of the castle change almost every half century. They were: Richard the Lionheart, Philip Augustus, who replaced each other several times as a result of armed attacks.

During the period when the castle was owned by Philip Augustus (1205), the restoration of the structure was carried out, and in its northern part a residential building was erected with adjacent towers and a sentinel belt. Moreover, a considerable part of the castle, by order of this French monarch, was given to the state as a prison.

In the middle of the XV century. the magnificent courtesan Agnes Sorel, who gave three beautiful children to King Charles VII, began to manage the huge castle. At this time, a hunting pavilion and a guard tower (Martello) were added to the donjon, the fortress wall and the watchtower near the residential building.
Over time, the chapel of Anna of Brittany also appears in the castle, who was the wife of Charles VIII, and after his death she married Louis XII. A life filled with troubles (until the age of 23, the girl lost her mother, father, four children and her husband), forced her to constantly pray in one of the corners of the castle, it was this room that was named after her.

Loches castle prison in France
The walls of the castle became a place of imprisonment for many famous people. Here he served his sentence, who betrayed Charles XI, Cardinal de la Balu. He was imprisoned in a round tower in 1469. There is evidence that he was put in one of the cells he invented (it was a small cage that rose several meters from the floor at night to prevent the criminal from escaping).

Another recluse of the majestic walls was the traitor of Louis XI - the famous historian Philippe de Commenes. Also prisoners of Losha were: the captured Duke of Milan, Lodovico Sforza and many others.

Moreover, there is a legend that under the castle there are entire catacombs in which minerals were mined. In these underground rooms, one of the owners of the castle, Ponbrillant, once found a mummified corpse. In this regard, there is an opinion that during the reign of Charles VII, a torture chamber was equipped in the dungeon.

In 1790, most of Loches was destroyed by the revolutionaries. Almost nothing has become of the residential building, the chapel, the prison, and even the church of Notre Dame, located nearby.

Modern Loches Castle

Every tourist can walk around the castle grounds. You can enter it through the Royal Gate. Visitors are invited to:

Furthermore, often held on the castle grounds:

• theatrical performances,
• art exhibitions,
• concerts.

You can visit the castle in any season, you don’t have to worry about accommodation here either, good-natured residents of nearby villages are happy to invite late tourists to visit.

Entry fee to the castle:

• For an adult is 7 euro.
• Child ticket (for children aged 7 to 16) will cost 4.5 euro.
• Entry for children under 6 years old is free.

Working hours

• The fortress is ready to receive tourists daily from 9.00 to 19.00.
• Sundays are similar, only on this day there is still break from 13.00 to 14.00.
• Shortened working hours provided October to June. At this time, the castle receives tourists from 9.00 to 12.00 and from 14.00 to 17.00.

More detailed information can be found on the official site: www.chateau-loches.fr.

Where is the castle and how to get to it from Paris

Loches Castle is located in the city of Loches in France, south of the Indre River. You can get to it through the city of Tours. They come from this town buses and trains.

• Railway transport sent twice a day. The travel time is 45 minutes and the fare is 8 euro.
• Buses run three times a day, the price and travel time are similar.
• You can also get to Loches Castle by car on road 143.

Distance from Paris to Loches Castle on the map:

Loches Castle pictured

The photo shows the castle of Loches and its attractions.

Useful information for tourists about Loches in France - geographical position, tourist infrastructure, map, architectural features and attractions.

Loches is a city in the department of Indre-et-Loire in the Center region. This small locality known for the ancient royal castle Loches, whose construction began in the 9th century. The donjon or the main tower of the castle is currently the oldest surviving one in France. The castle stands on south coast river Indre. Its large-scale restoration began in 1806, and after about half a century the castle was given the status of a significant historical monument France.

One of the famous residents of modern Losh is the Russian-American artist and sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin, who owns a large plot of land on the territory of the former convent. Mikhail Shemyakin has repeatedly declared his intention to open a cultural and exhibition center for artists from the North Caucasus, where he comes from, in the city of Losh.

erection main tower Loches Castle began in 1005 and lasted for about 65 years. The dimensions of the tower were small (25 by 15 meters), but a significant height (38 meters) and a three-meter thickness of stone walls made this fortress almost impregnable for that time. The construction of the fortress was started by Count Fulk Nerra, who was in a state of ongoing war with his neighbors. He died in 1040 and was buried at Loches Castle.

The history of Loches Castle is also connected with other famous names in French and world history. Its owners, residents and prisoners were many political figures of the Middle Ages. So, in the XII century, the castle was owned by the King of England, Richard the Lionheart. In 1429, after the victory over Orleans, Joan of Arc convinced the Dauphin Charles to be crowned the throne of France. In the second half of the 15th century, the favorite of King Charles VII, the "beautiful lady" Agnes Sorel, settled in the castle of Loches. After her death, she was buried in the local church of Notre-Dame-de-Loches, also known as Saint-Urs. For many years, the patron of Leonardo da Vinci, the Duke of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, was a prisoner of the Loches castle. Drawings and inscriptions made by him on the ceiling and walls of his casemate remind of his imprisonment. Anna of Brittany, wife of Charles VIII and then Louis XII, spent several years in seclusion in this fortress.

Currently, some of the premises of the castle are open to tourists. Among them are the torture chamber, which was equipped in the 15th century by order of Charles VII, the museum of the artist Emmanuel Lencier, located in the bastion of the Royal Gate. Guests of the castle can climb a narrow staircase to the upper part of the keep, which, however, is partially destroyed. From this point, other buildings of the Loches castle are clearly visible, as well as the castle settlement, surrounded by fortress walls.

I propose to briefly familiarize ourselves with the history of this amazing structure ...

The donjon of Loches Castle is the oldest medieval donjon in France that has survived to this day.

The construction on this site was started back in the distant 9th century, then only a wooden tower was built, protecting the village adjacent to it and connected with it by laid in the rocks underground tunnels

These lands belonged to the Angevin Count Fulk the Red, but the history of the Loches fortress begins from the moment when his successor, Fulk Nerra, a cruel conqueror who fought for neighboring lands with the de Blois family, became the count

It was Fulk Nerra who ordered the construction of a square stone fortress on this site. In general, he was literally obsessed with building defensive donjons in these places, but such actions were dictated by the era in which the count lived. Constant wars simply forced him to build a dozen fortresses on his lands to protect himself from invaders

The construction of the keep of the castle of Loches was started in 1005 and was carried out somewhere until 1070.

With a relatively modest size (25 by 15 meters) and a 38-meter height, the donjon was almost impregnable, because. the thickness of its walls reached 3 meters, the figure for those times is quite impressive

As expected, loopholes were hollowed out in the walls, and machicolations were located at the top, allowing the defenders to douse the enemy with a hail of projectiles.

Fulk Nerra died in 1040 and was buried with honors here, in the Loches castle. The case of the count was continued by his successor, Geoffroy Martel d "Anjou, who eventually managed to defeat the counts de Blois in Saint-Martin-les-Beau, which allowed the Angevin family to settle down in the castle of Loches

Gradually, new fortifications grew up around the donjon, no one else attacked these lands, but such an idyll had to end sooner or later

The change came after the last of the Fulk family married the daughter of the king of England - their son, Henry Plantagenet, later ascended the English throne in 1154, was forced to oppose the French monarch Philip-Augustus, who seized most of the lands of the Plantagenets

After the death of Henry II Plantagenet, his son, Richard the Lionheart, went to the Holy Land in the Third crusade, but upon his return he was captured by the Austrian emperor Henry VI, which allowed Philip-August to receive from his brother Richard, Jean Landless, many estates of the Plantagenets, which included Losch

It took only 3 hours for Richard the Lionheart to regain his freedom in 1195 to regain Loches

4 years later, Richard died in Chinon, and his legitimate heir Arthur was meanly killed by Jean Landless, who continued to fight with Philip-August. In 1205, after a year of siege, the castle of Loches again came into the possession of the French monarch, who made it state prison

After the capture of Losh, Philip-Augustus began to restore and strengthen what was left of the fortress, and subsequently the Old residential building with towers and a sentinel belt was rebuilt in the northern part of the castle, which became iconic place after the capture of Orleans in June 1429 - it was here that Jeanne d "Arc convinced the Dauphin Charles to be crowned on the French throne in Reims

Shortly thereafter, Agnes Sorel, the “Beautiful Lady”, settled in the castle, who in 1444 became the first favorite of King Charles VII.

Agnes was known for her craving for charity, but at the same time she was very fond of luxury, which subsequently affected the state of the royal treasury a lot.

In 1450, sensing her impending death, Agnes Sorel asked to be buried in her beloved church. Notre-Dame de Loches, known today as Saint-Our, to whom she bequeathed 2,000 golden crowns

Some time after the funeral of Agnes Sorel, the clergy turned to the Dauphine Louis XI with a request to transfer the remains of the generally recognized sinner to the castle, but after Louis's hint that in this case the bequeathed gold would "move" along with Agnes, the monks of the Capitulum were finally convinced of the sinlessness of the "Beautiful ladies"

The ashes of the favorite rested untilRevolutions, when the soldiers of Endra's battalions, mistaking Agnes's grave for the grave of a saint, smashed her alabaster statue, desecrated the grave and scattered the remains. In addition, the rebels are almost completely destroyed the Old residential building, Anna's chapel, prison cells and the Church of Notre Dame itself

Later, the remains of the "Beautiful Lady" were transferred to one of the halls of the restored Old Building, a copy of the old alabaster statue was placed above the new tomb.

In the 15th century, several rooms, the New Tower and the Martello guard tower were added to the Old Residential Building. At that time, the royal apartments included a tower and a fortress wall of the 13th century, an ensemble of buildings with a watchtower of the 14th century and a hunting pavilion of the 15th century, built around the same time as the donjon leading to the Cordelier gate and to the tower of St. Anthony. The new wing houses the chapel of Anne of Brittany, the wife of two monarchs (first Charles VIII, then Louis XII)

During the existence of the prison, many high-ranking prisoners have been here. For example, Loches' prisoner was the famous historian Philippe de Commain, who betrayed Louis XI by taking the side of a group of conspirators, but was subsequently pardoned by Charles VIII. In the Martello tower sat the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, also known as the Duke of Moro, captured at the Battle of Novara. As a sign of respect for the noble origin of the captive, Louis XII gave him a cell with furniture and a fireplace, and also provided some "amenities", such as, for example, the company of a jester and masters. The walls painted by him and the elongated ceiling of the chamber, decorated with the image of a heraldic helmet, snakes and stars, as well as several wall inscriptions, remind of the presence of the Duke Moreau here.

Other "guests" of Loches were the bishops of Puy and Autun, Antoine de Chabanne and Jacques Guro, who took part in the conspiracy against Francis I. During the imprisonment, the clergy made a small carved altar and a wall polyptych depicting the Passion of the Lord

One is connected with the Loches castle interesting legend which may very well be true. Rumor has it that at one time the owner of the Pontbriyan castle, having heard enough stories about the mysterious underground rooms and caves near Loches (where the rock was once mined), ordered to break open several ancient walled doors. After passing through many galleries dug into the rock, Pontbrillant found himself at a dead end in front of a closed room. Opening the door, he at first recoiled sharply, seeing a tall man in a sitting pose, covering his head with his hands, but since he did not move, the owner of the castle came closer and saw that it was a corpse that turned into a mummy due to the dry air of the prison cell. In a few moments, the wind that rushed in from outside instantly reduced him to dust. In addition to the mysterious mummy, Pontbrillant also found a small chest containing neatly folded clothes. Proof that this legend may be true, some experts believe the bones of the mysterious captive, preserved in the church of Notre Dame

Today, some underground rooms of the castle are open to the public. - the most memorable of them is the torture chamber, equipped by Charles VII in the 15th century, in which the shackles are still kept, with which the ankles of captives were fastened during quartering

You can also thoroughly examine a copy of the famous cell of Louis XI, in which Bishop Balu lived for a long 11 years

The keep of Loches Castle can only be reached through a narrow turret with embrasures, located at a height of three meters. Apparently, there used to be a special ladder here, allowing you to climb the tower.

At the entrance begins a stone spiral staircase, overcoming 150 steps of which you can get to the roof of the donjon, from which the entire territory of the fortress is perfectly visible

The history of Loches Castle is clearly visible from the terrace , from which you can admire a magnificent view of the fortress and the valley of the river Endra. Only from here you can see that the two-kilometer walls actually protect a real small town - with its streets, houses, palace and church

In addition, if you look at the castle, you can easily distinguish its ancient part from the later one. The ancient and higher part was built during the era of wars, so four watchtowers are built into the wall, united by a common path at the base of the roof. In the New building, the features of the Renaissance era are easily guessed.

Large-scale restoration work began only in 1806, and in 1861 the castle of Loches was listed by the French Ministry of Culture among the significant monuments of the history of France.

The Royal Castle of Loches (fr. Château de Loches) is located in the French department of Indre-et-Loire in the Loire Valley, towering over the Indre River, the beginning of construction is the 9th century. The oldest surviving donjon in France, distinguished by its massiveness and quadrangular shape, was built by Fulk Nerra.

The donjon of the Loches castle is the oldest of all the medieval donjons of France that have survived to this day. Construction on this site was started back in the distant 9th century, then only a wooden tower was built, protecting the village adjacent to it and connected with it by underground tunnels laid in the rocks. These lands belonged to the Anjou Count Fulk I the Red, but the history of the Loches fortress begins from the moment when his successor, Fulk Nerra, a cruel conqueror who fought for neighboring lands with the de Blois family, became the count. It was Fulk Nerra who ordered the construction of a square stone fortress on this site. In general, he was literally obsessed with building defensive donjons in these places, but such actions were dictated by the era in which the count lived. Constant wars simply forced him to build a dozen fortresses on his lands to protect himself from invaders. The construction of the keep of the castle of Loches was started in 1005 and was carried out somewhere until 1070. With a relatively modest size (25 by 15 meters) and a 38-meter height, the donjon was practically impregnable, since the thickness of its walls reached 3 meters, a figure quite impressive for those times. As expected, loopholes were hollowed out in the walls, and machicules were located at the top, allowing the defenders to douse the enemy with a hail of projectiles. Fulk Nerra died in 1040 and was buried with honors here, in the Loches castle. The Count's work was continued by his successor, Geoffroy Martel d'Anjou, who eventually managed to defeat the Counts de Blois at Saint-Martin-les-Beau, which allowed the Angevin family to settle down in the castle of Loches. Gradually, new fortifications grew up around the donjon, no one else attacked these lands, but such an idyll had to end sooner or later. Changes occurred after the last of the Fulk family married the daughter of the king of England - their son, Henry Plantagenet, who later ascended the English throne in 1154, was forced to oppose the French monarch Philip Augustus, who had seized most of the Plantagenet lands. After the death of Henry II Plantagenet, his son, Richard the Lionheart, went to the Holy Land on the Third Crusade, but on his return was captured by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, which allowed Philip Augustus to receive many Plantagenet estates from Richard's brother, Jean Landless, in which included Losch. It took only 3 hours for Richard the Lionheart to regain his freedom in 1195 to regain Loches. 4 years later, Richard died in Chinon, and his legitimate heir Arthur was meanly killed by Jean Landless, who continued to fight with Philip Augustus. In 1205...

The medieval castle of Loches (Château de Loches) is located in the center royal city with the same name, located in the department of Indre-et-Loire. His architectural complex recognized as a historical monument back in 1861 and is under the care of the state.

History details

In the ninth century the lands in the vicinity belonged to one of the most warlike and powerful feudal lords of France, Count Anjou Fulk the Red. By this time, the first mention of the Loches castle, which was then a wooden donjon that protected the nearest village, dates back.

The stone castle was built under his no less ambitious successor Fulk Nerra. Its construction began in 1005 and continued for several decades until 1070. It was a square fortress with a powerful impregnable donjon with machicols 38 m high and walls about 3 m thick. Other military, household and residential buildings were gradually built around it.

In the XII century. the owners of the castle were involved in a bloody confrontation between the Plantagenets and the French royal dynasty. The castle of Loches changed owners several times over several decades, before in 1205 it again did not return to the possession of the French monarch for a long time.

After the capture of Losh, Philip Augustus made a lot of efforts to restore and strengthen the castle. Under him, the Old Castle Building with towers and a watch platform was built. It was in this citadel that in 1429 Joan of Arc convinced the heir to the French throne, Charles, to be crowned in Reims.

There is also at least one other famous woman associated with the castle. At the beginning of the XV century. Agnes Sorel, the mistress of Charles VII, spent several years there. Within the walls of the old castle building there is also her grave, on the tombstone of which there is an alabaster statue.

In the XV century. additional living quarters were built to the old castle, the guard tower of Martel, new tower and hunting pavilion. To the right of the royal residence on its northern side is the chapel of A. de Breton, built in the High Gothic style. In 1529-1572, the only Renaissance bell tower in Touraine, 52 m high, was built on the territory of the castle and was called the Tower of St. Anthony.

In the XVIII century. when France became an ally of the Americans in the war for the independence of the North American colonies with the English kingdom, Loches Castle became a prison for British prisoners. The ancient citadel was subjected to great destruction during the revolutionary events of the end of this century, the consequences of which have not been completely eliminated even now.

Visiting the castle and park

From the premises of the castle open today for visiting, the dungeons of the castle of Loches are of great interest to tourists, which in the medieval era served as a reliable prison for a long time. In its cellars in different years were the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza, captured in the Battle of Novara, the participants in the conspiracy against Francis I, Bishops Jacques Guro and Antoine de Chabany. During a tour of its cellars, they visit a 15th-century torture chamber, which contains many torture instruments.

Through a narrow passage, tourists enter the most ancient part of the castle - its donjon. In order to climb to the upper platform, you need to go through 150 steps of a spiral staircase. From here you can see the entire panorama of the castle with the church of Saint-Ur, the new building in the Renaissance style and other numerous buildings surrounded by a two-kilometer wall.

In the southeastern part of the castle is the royal residence, the construction of which was completed in the 16th century. It consists of two buildings with a strict design of facades and the A. Sorel Tower adjoining them. It was often visited by King Charles VI and especially spent time by Charles VII.


Near front staircase The mansion of the owner of the castle has preserved statues of dogs with which the kings went hunting. Some of its windows are decorated with stained-glass windows with portraits of Agnes Sorel and Charles VII. Its chambers and halls contain magnificent collections of tapestries, paintings, furniture and weapons.

As part of their acquaintance with the castle of Loches, tourists have access to the church of Saint-Ur of the XII century located very close to it. It is interesting for its unusual octagonal turrets and a unique portal with a relief depicting animals and monsters from a medieval bestiary.

Near the walls of the castle of Loches there is a small garden area, divided into four parts. In the Seigneurial Garden (Le jardin seigneurial) the Monastic Garden (Le jardin de monastère) was intended for growing medicinal plants, in the peasant garden (Le jardin de paysan) grapes were cultivated, apples, pears and various vegetables grew. For the defenders of the castle, the Secret Garden (Le jardin secre) was of particular importance - aconite grew in it, from which poison for arrows was obtained.

How to get there

The address: 7 Mail du Donjon, Loches
Telephone: +33 2 47 59 01 32
Website: www.chateau-loches.fr
Working hours: 9:00-19:00

Ticket price

• Adult: 8.50 €
• Discounted: 6.50 €

Updated: 09/12/2017