Château de Saint-Loup-sur-Thouet (France)

The Domaine de Saint-Loup is classified as a historic monument by the decrees of January 8, 1947 and July 5, 1993. It includes the dungeon (XV), the home (XVII), parks and gardens built during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the orangery (15th - 18th century), the dovecote, the menagerie and the canal.

Of the castle built during the fifteenth century by the lords of Dercé, Jean or Amaury, there remains only the dungeon consisting of the main tower forming an irregular rectangle connected to another tower smaller and circular by a building body juxtaposed with the moat . "The whole has undergone many times over the centuries, especially since the establishment of bed and breakfast, which makes it extremely difficult to study the castral ensemble" (Mathieu Chartier "Topography and Morphological Development"). Airvault and Saint-Loup-sur-Thouet in the Middle Ages ", University of Poitiers, 2008, p.80). The main tower now has four levels. On the 3rd level of the tower in the so-called seigniorial room, we find the coat of arms of the family Dercé on a medallion in the embrasure of a window.

The large building, whose architecture is inspired by Philibert Delorme, is dated to the seventeenth century and was built by the Gouffier family, one of the richest families in Poitou also owning the Domaine d'Oiron. The pavilions of brick and stone with high slate roofs are characteristic of the Louis XIII style. The monument is one of the finest examples of architecture of this era in France.

The Domaine de Saint-Loup is particularly distinguished by the development of its park and its utilitarian gardens and recreation restored in the 1990s as they were in the middle of the eighteenth century with old plans. The 50-hectare site has been the subject of a restoration and beautification program supported by the state and local authorities. The restoration of the gardens received in 1993 the title of European Pilot Project.