Photo : Stendym / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Château de Coulonges-sur-l'Autize
The Château de Coulonges-sur-l'Autize, in the Deux-Sèvres, is a Renaissance building constructed between about 1522 and 1568 on the site of a medieval castle. Work began with a square pavilion; around 1540 a new architect, perhaps from Oiron, changed the plan and added the east and south wings, with a chapel and an arcaded gallery.
It belonged to the Madaillan d'Estissac family. Geoffroy d'Estissac, bishop and patron of Rabelais, was its lord until 1543. In 1569 Charles IX, Catherine de' Medici, Henry III and Marguerite spent Christmas here. Looted and partly demolished in the 18th century, the château later housed schools and lost one and a half wings.
The half-buried kitchens, with vaults decorated with Medusa-head keystones, remain its most unusual feature. Listed as a historic monument in 1994 and owned by the commune since 1933, it houses the town hall and tourist office and opens to visitors in summer.
