France · 10th century
The Château de Falaise is a 12th-13th century castle, located in the south of the commune of Falaise ("cliff" in French) in the département of Calvados, in the region of Normandy, France. William the Conqueror, the son of Duke Robert of Normandy, was born at an earlier castle on the same site in about 1028. William went on to conquer England and become king, and possession of the castle descended through his heirs until the 13th century, when it was captured by King Philip II of France. Because of his association to the location (though not the existing physical structure) it is also known as Château Guillaume le Conquérant or William the Conqueror's Castle.
Possession of the castle changed hands several times during the Hundred Years' War. The castle was abandoned during the 17th century. Since 1840 it has been protected as a monument historique.
Text adapted from “Château de Falaise” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Château de Falaise ranks #954 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #82 of the 793 mapped in France. Founded c. 1000, it is older than 91% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 193 atlas entries founded in the 10th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 7,821 times in the last 60 days, more than 92% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. It is one of the 33 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Normandy. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
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