Azay-le-Rideau () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in central France.

Château

The château of Azay-le-Rideau was built from 1515 to 1527, one of the earliest French Renaissance châteaux. Built on an island in the river

Indre Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...

, its foundations rise straight out of the water. It is one of the best known of the châteaux of the Loire valley.

Church

There is a church dedicated to Saint Symphorien near the château that is interesting for the number of architectural periods incorporated in its design. While the newest portion dates from 1603, the current façade incorporates an older 9th century façade in the Carolingian style. The original carved figures are still visible, though an added window destroyed part of the second row. The rest of the church is of a Romanesque style. It was built between 1518 and 1527.

Wine

Azay-le-Rideau is the centre of the

Touraine Azay-le-Rideau AOC Touraine is an ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) in the Loire Valley (wine), Loire Valley wine region in France that produce dry, white wines and red wines rich in tannins (wine), tannins. The AOC status was awarded by a decree of Decem ...

for white and

rose wine A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

Twin towns

Azay-le-Rideau is twinned with Croston in Lancashire, England.

In popular culture

The exterior design of château d'Azay-le-Rideau's main building (as well as its surrounding area, for the most part) was used by Konami video game developing company as the prime inspiration and a direct structural base of the "Villa" location in the video games ''

Castlevania 64 ''Castlevania'' (also referred to as ''Castlevania 64'') is a 1999 action-adventure video game developed by Konami's Kobe branch for the Nintendo 64 video game console. An expanded version of the game, '' Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness'', was re ...

'' (appears during "Stage 03" of the game) and '' Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness'' (appears during "Stage 04" of the game), both of which were released for Nintendo 64 home TV video gaming platform during January and November 1999 respectively.

References

External links

Centre des Monuments NationauxVins d'Azay-le-Rideau
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azaylerideau Monuments historiques of Indre-et-Loire Communes of Indre-et-Loire Touraine