Château d'Ainay-le-Vieil

Ainay-le-Vieil Castle belongs to the French commune of Ainay-le-Vieil in the Cher department in the Centre region. It is the southernmost castle in the Loire Valley and stands on the border of Berry. The complex, located on a plain, cannot utilize natural defensive elements and is therefore surrounded by a moat.

The origin of Ainay-le-Vieil Castle is probably a Gallo-Roman villa with agriculture, which was later fortified. The castle-bailiwick, mentioned in the 12th century, belonged to the Bourbons and passed to the powerful Sully family in the mid-13th century. Jean de Sully had the current complex built around 1330/1340, which came into the possession of the Culan family at the end of the 14th century.

In 1443, Jacques Cœur, Finance Minister of Charles VII, acquired the estate and sold it in December 1467 to Charles de Chevenon, Lord of Bigny. He began constructing the residential building in the Italian-influenced late Gothic style. Work on this was only completed around 1510 under his son Claude and his wife Jacqueline de L’Hôpital. The building has two projecting wings and a stair tower; however, restoration work carried out by Marquis Jean-Baptiste de Bigny between 1855 and 1858 significantly altered the structure. The entire complex is now surrounded by a polygonal curtain wall with round towers at the corners, the construction of which cannot be precisely dated.