France · Restored
Château de Châteaudun
Château de Châteaudun is a French castle in the town of Châteaudun, built between the 12th and 16th centuries and prominently sited on a limestone outcrop above the Loir River. It combines a massive cylindrical 12th-century keep with later 15th–16th-century residential wings and a chapel, and was converted into a comfortable Renaissance residence while retaining medieval defensive forms.
First raised
1171
Its prime
1538
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1538
The shape it held in its prime.
A dominant cylindrical keep with a tall conical slate roof rises from a grey limestone mass, its stone surface punctured by narrow vertical slits and a ring of small openings beneath the roof. To its sides extend multi-storey wings with steep, slate-covered gothic roofs, stepped gables and rows of mullioned windows. An attached chapel with tall pointed windows and an ornate façade projects from the complex. The whole ensemble sits on a rocky limestone outcrop above the town and the Loir River, stone-coloured and compact in silhouette.
Its story
The story of Château de Châteaudun.
The keep of the Château de Châteaudun was built around 1170 for Thibaut V, Count of Blois — a massive cylindrical tower that still dominates the castle on its limestone outcrop above the Loir. Between the 15th and 16th centuries the medieval fortress gained residential wings and a chapel.
Jean de Dunois converted the castle during the early Renaissance into a comfortable residence, the main body roofed in the Gothic style while the building retained its medieval defensive forms. On 9 May 1538 a ceremony involving minstrels marked the betrothal and proxy wedding here of James V, King of Scotland, and Mary of Guise; the King's proxy, Lord Maxwell, gave the bride a diamond "spousing ring" which cost 300 French crowns.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1538.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Château de Châteaudun — including 4 interiors: sainte-chapelle (chapel), dunois wing (aile dunois), longueville wing (aile longueville) and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Château de Châteaudun with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1538 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Château de Châteaudun.
The families that held Château de Châteaudun for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Blois
The Counts of Blois held the castle; Thibaut V had the keep built around 1170.
Dunois
Jean de Dunois converted the castle into a comfortable residence in the early Renaissance.
