France · Restored
Château de Blandy-les-Tours
Château de Blandy-les-Tours is a medieval fortress in Blandy-les-Tours, Seine-et-Marne, France. Originating in the 13th century and heavily rebuilt in the late 14th century, it combines a tall hexagonal keep and a polygonal curtain wall with multiple round and square towers; it has been the subject of major restorations since 1992.
Its prime
1390
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1390
What Château de Blandy-les-Tours looked like in its prime.
A high stone keep rises within a polygonal/hexagonal curtain of 14th-century round towers and a prominent square tower; curtain walls are thick and punctuated by round towers with conical tiled roofs and crenellated battlements. Walls are pale beige sandstone and gritstone with darker lower courses. The largest cylindrical towers have steep cone roofs and machicolations; the square former gatehouse is taller with a steep pyramidal roof. The castle sits amid the village, fronted by a road and a small grassy verge.
Its story
The story of Château de Blandy-les-Tours.
Blandy began as a 13th-century feudal fortress in the middle of its village, some 5 km from Vaux-le-Vicomte and 10 km from Melun. In the late 14th century it was transformed into a great lordly residence: the kings Charles V and Charles VI financed the works for the castle's successive owners, the counts de Tancarville, Jean II and his grandson Guillaume IV.
The keep, 35 m tall, rises from a hexagonal enclosure built around the castle chapel, inside a polygonal curtain of 14th-century round towers, six in all, from the square former gatehouse to the tower of the archives. The bases of the last three were raised after 1370 in Fontainebleau sandstone; Guillaume IV completed the upper stages around 1390 in cheaper gritstone. The keep had three points of entry, a feature thought rare, and the courtyard holds the remains of a Merovingian crypt.
After 17th-century restorations, Marshal de Villars, owner of neighbouring Vaux-le-Vicomte, bought the land and castle; in 1764 it was resold to the duke of Choiseul-Praslin, minister of Louis XV. In 1888 the mayor of Blandy-les-Tours, Pierre-Charles Tuot, bought the ruined enclosure, no building then remained within it, and gave it to the municipality. The general council of Seine-et-Marne acquired it in 1992 and began a complete restoration respecting the monument's principal historical stages.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1390.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Château de Blandy-les-Tours, including 5 interiors: gate passage with drawbridge, keep entrances at base, castle chapel interior and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Château de Blandy-les-Tours with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1390, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Château de Blandy-les-Tours.
The families that held Château de Blandy-les-Tours for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Tancarville
Held by the counts de Tancarville, Jean II and his grandson Guillaume IV, who transformed the fortress into a lordly residence in the late 14th century with royal financing.
Villars
Bought by Marshal de Villars, owner of Vaux-le-Vicomte, after the 17th-century restorations; resold in 1764.
Choiseul-Praslin
Sold in 1764 to the duke of Choiseul-Praslin, minister of Louis XV.
