Azay-le-Rideau Attractions

Azay-le-Rideau (pop. 2,905) has a magnificent Renaissance château, partly surrounded by a moat. It is a building of great charm and elegance, erected between 1518 and 1529 by a financier who later had to flee the country and died in exile. It is now the property of the State.

The most notable features on the ground floor are the rib-vaulted kitchen and the dining room, which has a richly decorated chimneypiece and contains a number of tapestries. The reception rooms, on the first floor, have fine Renaissance furniture and pictures.

The church of St-Symphorien is partly Romanesque and partly Gothic. On the facade of the south aisle are the remains of Carolingian reliefs.

In the nearby Château of Saché, Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) wrote some of his novels. The room in which he worked has been preserved as it was.