Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Royal Estate of Château-Gaillard, created in 1496 in Amboise by Charles VIII upon his return from the First Italian War, embodies the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Inspired by the Poggio Reale villa in Naples, this site was designed as an innovative royal residence, combining Gothic architecture and Italian influences. Its location, at the foot of the Éperon des Châteliers, offered a microclimate conducive to the acclimatisation of Mediterranean species, marking the beginning of French gardens.

The Italian monk Pacello da Mercogliano, accompanying Charles VIII, created in 1496 the first gardens of the French Renaissance, introducing revolutionary techniques: axial perspectives, symmetrical parts, and the first royal orangery. This domain became a laboratory of acclimatization for citrus, peach, and even the queen-caud plum. The gardens, fed by the Amass and local sources, incorporated water mirrors and structured aisles, transposing for the first time in France the principles of the medieval villas.

The Royal Logis, built on a terrace overlooking a 15-hectare park, combines a Gothic structure (pentuous roofs, pepper turret) with a Renaissance facade decorated with ionic and Corinthian capitals. The troglodytic chapel, consecrated in 1515, and the commons (kitchens, dovecote, cooler) dug in the cliff testify to the ingenuity of the arrangements. The façade was redesigned in 1559 by Charles de Guise-Lorraine, adding monumental entrapments and sculptures inspired by the Haute-Renaissance.

Successive property of Charles VIII, Louis XII, François I, and Pacello da Mercogliano (to whom Louis XII gave him in 1505 against an annual orange bouquet), the estate will also house figures like Marie Stuart and Catherine de Medici. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1963 for its chapel and gardens, and then fully protected in 2023, it reopened to the public in 2014 after five years of restoration, revealing its 16th century stained glass windows, its Italianizing chimneys, and its historic trails.

The gardens, replanted in the 19th century by Jean Théodore Coupier, conserve rare species and exceptional biodiversity. Recent excavations exhumed seven historic trails, 16th-century bread ovens, and a forgotten cooler. The estate, open all year round, offers today a dive into the royal art of living in the Renaissance, mixing architectural, horticultural and landscape heritage.

Future

After 5 years of pharaonic restoration carried out by 50 artisans & crafts of the Loire Valley, the castle is now open to the public and offers you the visit of the "palazotto", small palace, completely restored, as well as the walk in its gardens and the 7 paths that allow you to discover the vast domain.
An exhibition in an addiction allows you to understand the process and the scale of the work.

Explore the new features of 2017: the medieval courtyard, the "chai François 1er", the monumental screw tower, the "Grande Fontaine reindeer"!

Discover the range of local products related to the fruit of Château Gaillard, Orange: honey with orange blossom, orange candle, sweet orange jam, ...

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