Château d’Ussé, Rigny-Ussé, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, France
Ancienne province de France: Touraine
The Château d’Ussé is a stunning and picturesque castle at the edge of the Chinon forest overlooking the Indre Valley.
The first building was the eleventh-century wooden fortress constructed by the Norman Seigneur of Ussé, Gueldin de Saumur. Then the fort passed to the Comte de Blois who rebuilt it in stone.

The reconstruction of the ruined castle started in the 1440s and in 1455 the château was sold to Jacques d’Espinay who began to build the chapel in a Flamboyant Gothic style with Renaissance motifs. His son completed the chapel in 1612 and rebuilt the château in the sixteenth-seventeenth century style.
Charles Perrault was often a guest there and he had Ussé in mind when he wrote The Sleeping Beauty.

In 1802, the Duke of Duras purchased the estate.
François-René de Chateaubriand worked on his Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe while staying at the castle as the guest of Duchess Claire de Duras.
In 1885, the estate passed to the Comte de Blacas whose family still owns it today.
The Château d’Ussé inspired several Disney castles and was classified as a Monument Historique in 1931.
Mani R