:''This article includes information translated from the Wikipedia article Château des ducs de Bretagne'' The Château des ducs de Bretagne ( en, Castle of the Dukes of Brittany) is a large

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

located in the city of

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

in the

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of France; it served as the centre of the historical province of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

until its separation in 1956. It is located on the right bank of the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

, which formerly fed its ditches. It was the residence of the Dukes of Brittany between the 13th and 16th centuries, subsequently becoming the

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

residence of the

French Monarchy France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the firs ...

. The castle has been listed as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...

since 1840. Today the castle houses the Nantes History Museum.

Restoration

Starting in the 1990s, the town of Nantes undertook a massive programme of restoration and repairs to return the site to its former glory as an emblem of the history of Nantes and Brittany. Following 15 years of works and three years of closure to the public, it was reopened on 9 February 2007 and is now a popular tourist attraction. The restored edifice now includes the new Nantes History Museum, installed in 32 of the castle rooms. The museum presents more than 850 objects of collection with the aid of multimedia devices. The castle and the museum try to offer a modern vision of the heritage by presenting the past, the present and the future of the city. Night-time illuminations at the castle further reinforce the revival of the site. The 500-metre round walk on the fortified ramparts provides views not just of the castle buildings and courtyards but also of the town.

Seven sequences of the museum

* The Castle, Nantes and Brittany back to the 17th century, * Nantes, daughter of the river and the ocean, * Commerce and the black gold in the 18th century, * Nantes in Revolution, * A colonial and industrial port (1815–1940), * A new city takes shape (1940–1990), * A great Atlantic city, today and tomorrow. The exhibition ends with a vision of the city, a multimedia creation by a contemporary artist, occupying the entire area of the 32nd room. Pierrick Sorin is the first guest artist.

The illuminated castle

The night-lighting brings out the architectural complexity of the site within an urban context. The illumination was designed by Sylvie Sieg and Pierre Nègre of the ''Atelier Lumière'' and won the Light Originator Price of the Lumiville Trophy 2007.

Nantes History Museum in 2020

On 12 October, after being asked by the Chinese regime not to use the words “Genghis Khan” and “Mongolia", Nantes History Museum stopped an exhibition project dedicated to the history of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire in partnership with a Chinese museum”. The director of the Nantes museum, Bertrand Guillet, says: “We made the decision to stop this production in the name of the human, scientific and ethical values that we defend in our institution”.

References

External links

Official website

Nantes Metropole Tourism Office
*
visite virtuelle 360 photo panoramique

castle pictures gallery

Bibliography

''Le château des ducs, Nantes et la Bretagne''
Guy SAUPIN, 2010.

Gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bretagne, Chateau des ducs de Castles in Brittany Castles in Pays de la Loire Buildings and structures in Nantes Châteaux in Loire-Atlantique Museums in Nantes History of Brittany Monuments historiques of Pays de la Loire Squash venues