Saumur - Château

Saumur has one of the finest of the Loire Châteaux, built in the 14th C on a hill high above the Loire. King René called it the "castle of love". At the end of the 16th C it was converted by its Protestant owners into a fortress, and it still retains its defensive character. The Château, laid out round three sides of a courtyard open on the northwest, is entered through a large and imposing doorway. Obliquely opposite the entrance is a Late Gothic staircase tower housing a spiral staircase. The Tour du Guet, which towers over the southwest wing of the Château, can be climbed by way of a series of spiral staircases and passages, and affords fine views of the Château courtyard, the roofs of Saumur and the Loire valley. The Château contains two museums, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (decorative arts) and the Musée International du Cheval (the horse).