Château d’Anet History
The Chateau d’Anet is aFrench 16th-century castle,75 km west of Paris, in the département of Eure-et-Loire.
In 1546 Diane de Poitiers, widow of Louis de Brézé, began to build a modest house in the village of Anet; it underwent considerable and magnificent enlargement when her lover Henry II became King of France and placed Philibert de L’Orme and virtually unlimited resources at her disposal.
The Château d’Anet is built on a moated site around three courtyards with gardens to the north. Around the middle court, the Cour du seigneurs were three residential wings and the entrance gate set in a screen wall.
To the east lay the estate farm buildings around the Basse Cour, while to the west was the Cour de la Fontaine, and beyond it the tennis court, the stables, and Diane de Poitiers’ burial chapel.
Largely demolished after the French Revolution, all that remains of this complex are the entrance gate and screen wall, a section of the west wing, the frontispiece of the north wing and parts of the cryptoporticus, the chapel in the east wing and the Basse Cour gateway.
The entrance gateway is a Doric triumphal arch of very unclassical type, derived from the west portal of the Romanesque abbey of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard in Provence.
In the tympanum above the lintel, which bears a Latin inscription alluding to Henry II and Diane de Poitiers, was a bronze relief by Benvenuto Cellini depicting the Nymph of Fontainebleau, now replaced by a plaster copy.
On top of the gateway stands a bronze group; a deer surrounded by four hunting dogs, formerly set in motion by a clockwork mechanism, alluding to Diana the huntress.
The chimneys flanking the entrance screen resemble sarcophagi, symbolizing the eternal grief of Louis de Brézé’s widow. The cypresses on either side of the gateway represent the grove where Diana hunted.
The north wing of the main courtyard, already begun before de L’Orme was engaged, was refaced, with a three-story frontispiece articulated by the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders in its center.
Château d’Anet Visitor Information
Château d’Anet is located in Anet, about 78 km far from Paris and about 16 km from Dreux.
Opening times
April – 1st of October – the castle is open every day except Tuesday, between 14,00 – 18,00
In November, and between the 1st of February – the 31 of March – the castle is open only on Saturdays and Sundays, between 14,00 and 17,00.
Contact details:
Email: anet@chateaudanet.com
Phone: 02.37.41.90.07.
Fax: 02 37 41 96 45
Official website: chateaudanet.com
Visit the other Loire Valley Castles:
Chateau de Chambord,
Chateau de Brissac,
Chateau de Blois,
Chateau d Azay le Rideau,
Chateau de Chenonceau
Château d’Anet Location
Château d’Anet Address: Place du Château, 28260 Anet, France. Get help with directions: