France · 10th century
The Château de Saumur, originally built as a castle and later developed as a château, is located in the French town of Saumur, in the Maine-et-Loire département. It was originally constructed in the 10th century by Theobald I, Count of Blois, as a fortified stronghold against Norman attacks. It overlooks the confluence of the rivers Loire and Thouet. In 1026 it came into the hands of Fulk Nerra, count of Anjou, who bequeathed it to his Plantagenet heirs. Following its destruction in 1067, the castle was rebuilt by Henry II of England in the later 12th century.
Text adapted from “Château de Saumur” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Château de Saumur ranks #450 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #43 of the 793 mapped in France. Founded c. 950, it is older than 92% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 193 atlas entries founded in the 10th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 8,414 times in the last 60 days, more than 92% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 110,000 visitors in 2019. 6 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Angers, 44 km away. It is one of the 73 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Loire Valley. It is stop 6 of 32 on the Loire Valley château route, Angers to Orléans. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
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