Ussé

The Hundred Years' War was coming to an end, and belief in the medieval fortress was waning. Ussé was built in 1462 by a comrade in-arms of Joan of Arc, Jean du Bueil.
The plan was rectangular, with four buildings enclosing an inner courtyard.
The North wing was pulled down in the 18th century.
Jacques d'Epinay, Lord Chamberlain to Louis XI, who became the owner in 1485, made the architecture less Gothic and more Renaissance in style. At his death, his son Charles built the delightful collegiate church, which became a castle chapel, with a Renaissance decor borrowed from the Carthusian monastery at Pavia.
The Chateau set against the backdrop of trees is said to have inspired Charles Perrault to write the fairy tale of the Sleeping Beauty. There is series of tableau in the chateau depicting the fairy tale.
There is a fine gothic chapel to the left of the chateau, which houses a fine sculpture of the virgin, by Luca della Robbian (1400 1482)
The chateau is well furnished and houses a museum of period waxwork figures.