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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Beauvoir Tower, built in the 11th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 13th centuries, is one of the oldest buildings in Blois. It originally belonged to the seigneurs of Beauvoir, vassals of the Count of Blois, and formed a separate fief in the Middle Ages. In 1256, after its integration into the county, it became a central element of the city's defences, also housing the administration of justice and a prison for more than a century, until the building of the courthouse.

During the Revolution, the tower, deemed insufficient to accommodate the condemned, was enlarged with the former convent of the adjacent Cordeliers. She served as a prison until 1945. Its architecture, from square plan to stone, includes a ground floor, two floors and a top. Initially without an internal staircase, she received one later in a adjoining building. In 1970 four floors were rebuilt and a staircase integrated into an angle of the dungeon.

Classified as a historic monument in 1948, the Beauvoir Tower was purchased in 2000 by the owners of the Château de Chemery. Today, she visits herself on request: the ground floor is furnished as a gite, while the floors host exhibitions or events. Its history reflects its evolution, from a feudal dungeon to a versatile historic place.

The sources also mention its role in the urban enclosure of Blois, with major works in the thirteenth, fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. After the Revolution, some of the ramparts were transferred to private individuals, but the Beauvoir Tower, with a portion of the neighbouring wall, has remained protected since 1948. Its exact address, 28 Rue Beauvoir, makes it a tangible witness to the medieval and judicial history of the city.

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