Wednesday 4 August 2010

Amazingly different: Château de Brézé or about "the castle under the castle"....

Château de Brézé suprises its visitors with actually two....castles. One rising from another! The original underground castle, the "Rock" of Brézé, begins to appear in historical texts from 1063. You can still visit it nowadays at a depth of 9m beneath the courtyard. The light-well is the oldest part of the castle and a great example of a troglodyte dwelling constructed along defensive lines. One can walk through the underground tunnels, discover the bakery, ice-house and wine cellars as well as the silk-worm farm...

In the 15th century a medieval edifice was erected and fortified by the excavation of immense ditches all around. This one has been replaced by the building visible today, a Renaissance castle restored and extended in the 19th century.

2 comments:

FilipBlog said...

You are visiting many places where they serve wine. Is this coincidence?

Jana said...

The Loire-Valley is famous for its wine regions...in this castle we did not try any;)