Château ( Castle ) de Langeais, France

The Château de Langeais is one of the finest examples of late medieval architecture and one of the oldest castles in the Loire Valley in west-central France. The Château de Langeais was originally built as a fortress in 10th century by Foulques Nerra of Anjou. In the 11th century was the Château de Langeais along with the rest of Touraine captured by the Platagenets and later held by their descendants who became the Kings of England.

During the period of the Plategenet Kings the Château was expanded and fortified. In 1206 King Louis Phillipe II of France recaptured the Château but it was destroyed by the English during the Hundred Years' War (from 1337 to 1453). In 1465 King Louis XI rebuilt the Château de Langeais which was in 1491 the place of the marriage of Anne of Brittany to King Charles VIII that created a permanent union of Brittany and France until in 1532 when Brittany was formally incorporated into the French Kingdom.

During the next centuries had the Château de Langeais numerous owners. The Château went through an extensive restoration works when it was bought by businessman Jaques Siegfried in 1886. In 1904 Jaques Siegfried donated the Château de Langeais together with its collection to the Institut de France which still owns it today.