The Château de Chenonceau is a French château near the small village of Chenonceaux, in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. The château was built on the site of an old mill on the River Cher, sometime before its first mention in writing in the 11th century. It was designed by the French Renaissance architect Philibert de lOrme.
The original château was torched in 1412 to punish owner Jean Marques for an act of sedition. He rebuilt a château and fortified mill on the site in the 1430s. Bohier destroyed the castle and built an entirely new residence between 1515 and 1521. In 1555 Diane de Poitiers commissioned Philibert de lOrme to build the arched bridge joining the château to its opposite bank. Diane then oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens along with a variety of fruit trees. Set along the banks of the river, but buttressed from flooding by stone terraces, the exquisite gardens were laid out in four triangles. Queen Catherine made Chenonceau her own favorite residence, adding a new series of gardens. As Regent of France, Catherine would spend a fortune on the château and on spectacular nighttime parties. In 1560, the first ever fireworks display seen in France took place during the celebrations marking the ascension to the throne of the son of Catherine, Francis II.
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