Editing Château (section)

==French châteaux—selected examples==
===Château de Chenonceau===
[[File:Chenonceau02.jpg|thumb|[[Château de Chenonceau]]]]
The [[Château de Chenonceau]] is a French château spanning the river Cher, near the small village of [[Chenonceaux]] in the [[Indre-et-Loire]] [[Departments of France|department]] of the [[Loire Valley]] in France. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire Valley. The estate of Chenonceau is first mentioned in writing in the 11th century. The current château was built in 1514–1522 on the foundations of an old mill and was later extended to span the river. The bridge over the river was built from 1556 to 1559 to designs by the French Renaissance architect [[Philibert de l'Orme]], and the gallery on the bridge, built from 1570 to 1576 to designs by [[Jean Bullant]].

===Château de Dampierre-en-Yvelines===
[[File:Dampierre en Yvelines Chateau 01.jpg|thumb|[[Château de Dampierre]]]]
Built by [[Jules Hardouin-Mansart]], 1675–1683 for the [[Charles Honoré d'Albert, duc de Luynes, de Chaulnes et de Chevreuse|duc de Chevreuse]], [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert|Colbert]]'s son-in-law, the [[Château de Dampierre]] is a [[French Baroque]] château of manageable size. Protected behind fine wrought iron double gates, the main block and its outbuildings (''corps de logis''), linked by balustrades, are ranged symmetrically around a dry paved and gravelled ''cour d'honneur''. Behind, the central axis is extended between the former [[parterre]]s, now mown hay. The park with formally shaped water was laid out by [[André Le Notre]].<ref name="Quest-Ritson2007">{{cite book |last=Quest-Ritson |first=Charles |title=Gardens of Europe: A Traveller's Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCtLAQAAIAAJ |year=2007 |publisher=Antique Collectors Club |isbn=978-1-870673-55-6 |page=114 |access-date=6 November 2015 |archive-date=24 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224214807/https://books.google.com/books?id=yCtLAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Château de Montsoreau ===
The [[Château de Montsoreau]] is the only [[châteaux of the Loire Valley|Château of the Loire Valley]] to have been built directly in the [[Loire]] riverbed. It is also one of the first example of a [[renaissance architecture]] in France.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Congrès Archéologique de France|last=Litoux|first=Emmanuel|publisher=Société Française d'Archéologie|year=2003|pages=255}}</ref> Montsoreau was built in 1453 by Jean II de Chambes (first counsellor of [[Charles VII of France]] and ambassador of France to [[Venice]] and to [[Turkey]]) by order of the king soon after the end of the Hundred years war. The French dramatist [[Alexandre Dumas]] made the château de Montsoreau world famous with his trilogy on the [[French Wars of Religion]] of which ''[[La Dame de Monsoreau|the lady of Monsoreau]]'' is the second volume.<ref name="dumaspere.com">{{cite web|language=fr|title=La Dame de Monsoreau|url=http://www.dumaspere.com/pages/dictionnaire/dame_monsoreau.html|publisher=dumaspere.com|year=1998|access-date=18 March 2019|archive-date=11 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811135147/http://www.dumaspere.com/pages/dictionnaire/dame_monsoreau.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:0 Maincy - Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte (2).JPG|thumb|Château de [[Vaux-le-Vicomte]]]]

===Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte===
The Château de [[Vaux-le-Vicomte]] is a baroque French château located in [[Maincy]], near [[Melun]], 55&nbsp;km southeast of Paris in the [[Seine-et-Marne]] département of France. It was built by [[Louis Le Vau]] from 1658 to 1661 for [[Nicolas Fouquet]], Marquis de Belle-Isle ([[Belle-Île-en-Mer]]), Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of [[Louis XIV]]. The interior was lavishly decorated by painter [[Charles Le Brun]]. Louis Le Vau as well as Charles Le Brun were later called by Louis XIV to work at Versailles.<ref name="Hanser2006">{{cite book |last=Hanser |first=David A. |title=Architecture of France |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zojzUU976h0C&pg=PA271 |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-31902-0 |page=271 |access-date=6 November 2015 |archive-date=29 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129130422/https://books.google.com/books?id=zojzUU976h0C&pg=PA271 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Château de Versailles===
The [[Palace of Versailles]], or in French ''Château de Versailles'', is a royal château in [[Versailles (city)|Versailles]], in the [[Île-de-France (region)|Île-de-France]] region of France. When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] moved from Paris, until the [[House of Bourbon|royal family]] was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the [[French Revolution]]. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building but as a symbol of the system of [[absolute monarchy]] of the ''[[Ancien Régime]]''.