The picturesque Château d'Ussé in the Indre Valley

Ussé, a château in the Indre-et-Loire département, France, is famous for its stunning appearance. The stronghold at the edge of the Chinon forest overlooking the Indre Valley was first fortified in the eleventh century by the Norman seigneur of Ussé, Gueldin de Saumur, who surrounded the fort with a palisade on a high terrace. The site was later passed to the Comte de Blois, who rebuilt it in stone.

In the 15th century, Jean V de Bueil, a captain-general of Charles VII, purchased the ruined château and began rebuilding it in the 1440s. His son Antoine de Bueil married Jeanne de Valois, the biological daughter of Charles VII and Agnès Sorel, who brought as dowry 40,000 golden écus. The Espinay family, who bought the château later, rebuilt and expanded it, with the chapel completed in 1612 fusing Flamboyant Gothic and Renaissance styles.

Louis I de Valentinay demolished parts of the north range in the 17th century to open up the interior court and create a parterre terrace. Today, Ussé belongs to Casimir de Blacas d'Aulps, the 7th Duke of Blacas. Charles Perrault, author of the versions of several of the most famous fairy tales known today, often visited the castle and had the château of Ussé in mind when writing 'The Sleeping Beauty'.

The château’s picturesque exterior was the subject of a French railroad poster issued by the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans in the 1920s and was one of several that inspired Walt Disney in the creation of many of the Disney Castles. Ussé was classified as a monument historique in 1931 by the French Ministry of Culture.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons