Château de Dunois (Beaugency)

The Château de Beaugency, sometimes called the Château Dunois, is located in Beaugency, in the department of Loiret, in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It is one of the châteaux grouped under the tourist designation "châteaux of the Loire".

Built during the medieval period, it was a seigneurial residence, first owned by the lords of Beaugency, then by the kings of France and the dukes of Orléans, until the French Revolution of 1789. The château also has a hanging garden, a courtyard of honour and a chapel.

Best known as the residence of Jean de Dunois (1402–1468), called the Bastard of Orléans, a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, the château witnessed notable episodes in French history: figures such as Francis I, Louis XI and Joan of Arc left their mark on the life of the château and the town of Beaugency. Shortly after Napoleon I's decree of 1808, the château was turned into a poorhouse from 1840 to 1925. It later housed the Museum of Art and Popular Tradition of the Orléanais until 2002.

In 2025 the residence of the princes of Dunois is a private residence. The château reopened to the public in October 2014 after works to bring it up to standard. Since 2021 it has been a Château of Lights devoted to the history of the site and to digital arts.

Machine-translated from “Château de Beaugency” on the French Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Château de Dunois (Beaugency) ranks #5,310 of 8,764 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #458 of the 675 mapped in France. 7 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Orléans, 24 km away. It is one of the 69 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Loire Valley. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia (in French) ↗