The story of this place
Chenonceau arches gracefully across the River Cher on a series of stone bridges, earning it the name 'Château des Dames' for the women who shaped it. Henry II gave it to his mistress Diane de Poitiers, who built the bridge over the river. When the king died in 1559, his widow Catherine de' Medici forced Diane out and added the gallery atop the bridge, hosting extravagant fêtes. In the First World War the gallery served as a military hospital; in the Second, the river beneath the château marked the boundary between occupied and free France, and the building became a secret crossing point for the Resistance and refugees fleeing the Nazis.