Château de Brissac

With its monumental façades overlooking the lawns of a grand landscaped park, the Château de Brissac deserves the nickname of “Loire valley giant”. Cradle for more than a half-millennium of the Dukes of Brissac family, the monument’s architecture is surprisingly original, bringing together the formal rigor of its 14th-century defense towers and the refinement of its sculpted 17th-century ornamentation.
The château de Brissac has belonged to the same family since 26 May 1502, date on which the seigneurie was acquired by an Anjou nobleman, René de Cossé. More than 500 years later, his descendants continue to inhabit an outstanding residence. While the park offers magnificent vantage points in the shadow of 100-year-old trees, the castle presents a dazzling decor fashioned over the centuries and closely associated with the large-scale history of France.
The two medieval towers are the last remaining vestiges of an ancient château built in the 15th century by Pierre de Brézé, minister of Louis XI. In 1600, the first duke of Brissac entrusted construction of a new palace on the site of the old fortress to his architect, Jacques Corbineau, but the 1621 death of the duke, otherwise known as Charles II de Cossé, resulted in the sudden and definitive cessation of building, which would never be resumed and completed by his successors. That is why the façades observable today are so astonishingly – yet charmingly – heterogeneous.

The château of Brissac allows the visitor to enter into the intimacy of a family history involving illustrious figures. In August 1620, it provided the backdrop of an epochal event, the reconciliation of Louis XIII and his mother, Marie de Medici. Accessible by means of a monumental 32-meter-long grand gallery, the king’s bedroom is remembered as a place where the monarch slept, at the age of 19. A visit on the premises is an invitation to appreciate the valuable furniture, the profusely decorated ceilings and the family paintings accumulated by 17 successive generations. Louis-Hercule, the eighth duke of Brissac, governor of Paris, colonel of the “Cent Suisses” (an elite infantry company), left his mark on history by his 16-year-long relationship with the celebrated Countess du Barry.
All in all, the seven-floor Loire valley giant contains more than 200 meticulously conserved rooms. The visitor’s “showstopper” will be his or her discovery of the superb theater constructed by a music-loving marquess of Brissac, Jeanne Say, in the late 19th century. The visit culminates in the castle cellar, where it is possible to by taste the estate’s wines and discover its historic kitchens.