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A must-see: the Happy-culteurs of Champigny sur Veude (the station).

In 1631, to thank his minister, Cardinal Richelieu, for his eminent services, King Louis XIII did him the favor of erecting "a town enclosed by walls and moats and building a market hall" and establishing four annual fairs and two markets per week. Thus emerged from nothing, an "ideal city" according to the precepts of the time which would bear the name of the Cardinal. Richelieu entrusted Jacques Lemercier, architect of the king, author of the Sorbonne and the Palais-Royal, with the task of building, on the site of the family property, a vast castle, a reflection of his grandeur and a new city, nearby. Nearly 2000 workers would work on the site. Inside the walls, the Cardinal gave the land to whoever agreed to build a pavilion within two years according to the plans filed with the city registry. The inhabitants will be exempt from tax and gabelle until there are 100 houses built. 4/5 of the project will be completed between 1632 and 1642, the year of the Cardinal's death. Contrary to the words of Jean de la Fontaine (who also ironically described the town as "the most beautiful village in the universe"), far from being deserted, the town had 4,000 inhabitants in 1690, compared to less than 2,000 today. This innovative project, which linked the construction of a castle and a town in the same program, foreshadowed the Versailles construction site that would open 30 years after the completion of the city walls of Richelieu. Adjacent to the walls, Richelieu Park, with an area of 475 ha, housed the vast estate of the castle of the du Plessis family (original surname of Cardinal Richelieu), of which only a few vestiges remain today. Richelieu is now a somewhat unusual town in the French landscape, with its three access gates and its two large symmetrical squares. Organized in quadrilaterals and perpendicular streets in the manner of American cities, it offers a unique testimony to urban planning of the Grand Siècle.

Private castle built in the 16th century on 15th century foundations.

The Château des Brétignolles is one of the rare castles in the Loire in the Gothic style, characteristic of 15th century architecture. It is only visible from the entrance gate on the main road to Chinon, but the small roads which go around its park are, on the contrary, very peaceful.

The Notre Dame church was built in 1635 by Pierre Le Mercier.

Park Richelieu

We were supposed to do richelieu Châtellerault by following the greenway that crosses the park, but we had to turn back in front of a locked gate marked as a private road... so we had to turn around!

Porte de Loudun is the southern gate of the fortified town of Richelieu, built by Cardinal Richelieu in the 1630s. King Louis XIII gave him the land to build a fortified town and castle on it, and Richelieu was still in the process of to carry out this project at the time of his death in 1642. There are two entrance gates into the town - this one, the Porte de Loudun and the entrance from the north is possible through the Porte de Chinon.