Photo : Krzysztof Golik / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Château de Loches
The Château de Loches, in Indre-et-Loire, is a medieval fortress whose major element is the keep, raised by Fulk Nerra between 1013 and 1035. It is one of the oldest large military constructions in stone. Rectangular, it is 36 metres high and was used to control Touraine, disputed between the Angevins and the people of Blois.
The site keeps the memory of the monarchy. Charles VII often stayed there with Agnès Sorel, and it was there that in May 1429 he met Joan of Arc, who urged him to go and be crowned at Reims. From the fifteenth century, the fortress also served as a royal prison, until 1926. Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, was imprisoned there from 1504 until his death in 1508 and left paintings in his cell.
The complex includes the keep, a round tower, the martelet, an underground tower, and the royal gate, whose construction stages span the eleventh to fifteenth centuries. These elements let you read the evolution of feudal architecture. The site is protected as a historic monument, and visiting conditions should be checked with the royal city of Loches.
