France · 12th century
Château d'Ainay-le-Vieil is a 14th-century castle built on the grounds of an earlier 12th-century castle in Ainay-le-Vieil, Cher, France. After having bought the castle from Jacques Cœur, Charles de Bigny built a pre-Renaissance Louis XII-style chateaux from 1500 to 1505. The castle has been listed as a Monument historique since 1968 by the French Ministry of Culture. The castle, now part of Jacques Cœur's tourist route, has been nicknamed "the little Carcassonne" (French: le petit Carcassonne) because of its circular shape. Today the castle is one of the best-preserved fortresses of the 14th century.
Text adapted from “Château d'Ainay-le-Vieil” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Château d'Ainay-le-Vieil ranks #2,083 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #159 of the 793 mapped in France. Founded c. 1150, it is older than 80% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 756 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,258 times in the last 60 days, more than 72% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
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