Chapel attached to the Chateau
The rear of "Our Chateau". Our room is on the second floor, with the bathroom in the turret on the right.
Church and municipal building outside the gate of the Chateau
West facade of Château de Reignac
History of Château de Reignac
Château de Reignac was built over the ruins of a former fortress that protected a crossing over the Indre river. The château today bears witness to three separate architectural periods.
The Château of the Du Fau Lords
In the 15th century, the du Fau family, who had just acquired the fiefdom, built a fortified castle.
Only the two round towers which frame the façade onto the gardens and the guards room remain from the castle of Jehan du Fau, who was Louis XI''s Grand Master of the King''s Residence in Loches.
Reignac subsequently became the property of Pierre Forget, who was Secretary of State under Henri III and Henri IV, and responsible for drawing up the Edict of Nantes.
The castle then became the property of Aymard de Chouppes, Chevalier of the King''s Order, King''s Counsellor, Lieutenant General in his Armies, and childhood friend of Louis XIII.
The Château of Louis de Barberin
In March 1710, King Louis XIV raised the Baron du Fau to the rank of Marquis de Reignac sur Indre, in order to reward "Our dearly beloved friend Louis de Barberin, Knight, Count of Reignac”. Louis de Barberin commenced major alteration work to adapt the château to current tastes: the moat was filled in, a vast formal park and garden were laid out, outhouses were built to the south-west and an east wing perpendicular to the house was added. A chapel, dedicated to Saint Louis, was built as an extension to the main body of the house.
The chapel''s foundation stone was blessed on 30th July 1717, and two years later the chapel''s founder was buried there. Marie Marguerite de Rarécourt de la Vallée-Pimodan, Louis de Barberin''s wife, commissioned Claude Dubois, a sculptor from Dijon, to carve the sumptuous marble mausoleum in his memory.
The General Marquis de Lafayette inherited Reignac when his mother, Marie Julie de la Rivière, Louis de Barberin''s great-granddaughter came into her inheritance. The marquis and his wife, née Adrienne de Noailles, stayed frequently in Reignac until 1792 when the Lafayette family relinquished the château.
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