Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art

The Château de Montsoreau is a Flamboyant Gothic castle in the Loire Valley, directly built in the Loire riverbed. It is located in the market town of Montsoreau, in the Maine-et-Loire département of France, close to Saumur, Chinon, Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, and Candes-Saint-Martin. The Château de Montsoreau is situated at the confluence of two rivers, the Loire and the Vienne, and the meeting point of three historical regions: Anjou, Poitou, and Touraine. A Gallo-Roman origin has been verified for the settlement of Montsoreau but not confirmed for the castle, even though a fluted column made of stone from a Gallo-Roman temple or a public building was found in the moat during the restoration works of the end of the 20th century. The first written sources are from the 6th century with the domain of Restis, but it was only with the construction of a fortress at the end of the 10th century that the market town began to become prosperous. One part of this first castle was found during the same restoration works by the archaeologists. The castle was reconstructed in a Flamboyant Gothic style between 1450 and 1460 by Jean de Chambes, one of the kingdom's wealthiest men, a senior councillor and chamberlain to King Charles VII and King Louis XI. The Château de Montsoreau was written about by Alexandre Dumas in his novel La Dame de Monsoreau (1845–1846). This novel is the second part of a trilogy on the Renaissance between La Reine Margot and The Forty-Five Guardsmen. Parts of the Château de Montsoreau were listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture in 1862, 1930, and 1938. The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 30 November 2000. In 2015, the French contemporary art collector Philippe Méaille signed with Christian Gillet, president of the French department of the Maine-et-Loire an emphyteutic lease of 25 years of the real property of the Château de Montsoreau. The Château houses Méaille's collection of the conceptual art collective Art & Language as a museum named Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Loire Valley (French: Vallée de la Loire, pronounced [vale də la lwaʁ]), spanning 280 kilometres (170 mi), is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about 800 square kilometres (310 sq mi). It is referred to as the Cradle of the French and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards (such as cherries), and artichoke and asparagus fields, which line the banks of the river. Notable for its historic towns, architecture, and wines, the valley has been inhabited since the Middle Palaeolithic period. In 2000, UNESCO added the central part of the Loire River valley to its list of World Heritage Sites.

The Loire Valley is listed UNESCO World Heritage site since 30 November 2000 under the reference 933bis. The justification for the inscription of the territory is based on several criteria: its architectural heritage which includes the Châteaux of the Loire (criterion I), its exceptional cultural landscape (criterion II) and its cultural monuments, witnesses of the Renaissance and the century Enlightenment (criterion IV). The list includes at this date 160 communes distributed in 2 regions (Pays de la Loire and Center-Val de Loire) and 4 departments (Maine-et-Loire, Loiret, Loir-et-Cher, Indre-et-Loire) on a distance of 280 km long stretching from Sully-sur-Loire to Chalonnes.

Montsoreau (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃sɔʁo] ) is a commune of the Loire Valley in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France on the Loire, 160 km (99 mi) from the Atlantic coast and 250 km (160 mi) from Paris. The village is listed among The Most Beautiful Villages of France (French: Les Plus Beaux Villages de France) and is part of the Loire Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. Montsoreau was identified under the name Restis (rope or fishnet) at the end of classical antiquity as a port on the Loire at the confluence of the Loire and the Vienne. It has taken its name Mount Soreau (Mont Soreau) from a rocky promontory situated in the riverbed of the Loire and surrounded by water on top of which was built a fortress in 990. There have been three major buildings on this promontory, a Gallo-Roman temple or administrative building, a fortified castle, and a Renaissance palace. Montsoreau was, until the seventeenth century, a center of jurisdiction and the seigneury of Montsoreau stretched from the river Loire to Seuilly-l'Abbaye and Coudray castle in the south. After the French Revolution, the exploitation of a building stone, the tuffeau stone, abruptly increased its population of 600 inhabitants to more than 1000, maintained during the first half of the nineteenth century. This stone, easy to work, was gradually exhausted, and the population decreased to stabilize again around 600 people. Montsoreau then concentrated its activities on agriculture, wine and river trade until the end of the nineteenth century. During the Twentieth century, Montsoreau has seen river trade replaced by terrestrial trade and the rise of a tourism economy.

Candes-Saint-Martin (French pronunciation: [kɑ̃d sɛ̃ maʁtɛ̃] ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department, central France. It overlooks the confluence of the Vienne and Loire rivers from a steep hill on the left bank of the Loire, and marks the boundary between the modern departments of Indre-et-Loire to the east, and Maine-et-Loire to the west. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association.

The Vienne (French pronunciation: [vjɛn] ; Occitan: Vinhana, pronounced [viɲaˈno]) is a major river in south-western France. It is 363 km (226 mi) long. It is a significant left tributary of the lower Loire. It supports numerous hydroelectric dams, and it is the main river of the northern part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Two French departments are named after the Vienne: Haute-Vienne (87) in the Limousin region and Vienne (86) both in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

Varennes-sur-Loire (French pronunciation: [vaʁɛn syʁ lwaʁ] , literally Varennes on Loire) is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.

The Dive (French pronunciation: [div]) is a 73.7 km (45.8 mi) river in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Pays de la Loire regions in western France. It is a right-bank tributary of the Thouet. Its source is in the commune of Maisonneuve, Vienne. It later bisects the department of Deux-Sèvres to reach Maine-et-Loire. It flows generally northwards and through the towns of Moncontour and Brézé, finally flowing into the Thouet in Saint-Just-sur-Dive. In common with most rivers in this region of France flows are quite widely controlled by creation of heads of water, through embankment and barrages, which prevents near loss of upper reaches in summer. For winter sluices are opened, which prevents flooding, which historically would affect a small proportion of the land as the river gradient is relatively high and the valley modest but noticeable along most banks.

Fontevraud-l'Abbaye (French pronunciation: [fɔ̃təvʁo labei] ) is a commune in the western French department of Maine-et-Loire. It is situated both in the Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site between Chalonnes-sur-Loire and Sully-sur-Loire, and the Loire Anjou Touraine French regional natural park.

Turquant (French pronunciation: [tyʁkɑ̃] ) is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.

The Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud or Fontevrault (in French: abbaye de Fontevraud) was a monastery in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in the former French Duchy of Anjou. It was founded in 1101 by the itinerant preacher Robert of Arbrissel. The foundation flourished and became the centre of a new monastic Order, the Order of Fontevraud. This order was composed of double monasteries, in which the community consisted of both men and women – in separate quarters of the abbey – all of whom were subject to the authority of the Abbess of Fontevraud. The Abbey of Fontevraud itself consisted of four separate communities, all managed by the same abbess. The first permanent structures were built between 1110 and 1119. The area where the Abbey is located was then part of what is sometimes referred to as the Angevin Empire. The English king Henry II, his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their son, King Richard the Lionheart, were all buried here at the end of the 12th century. It was seized and disestablished as a monastery during the French Revolution. The Abbey is situated in the Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, between Chalonnes-sur-Loire and Sully-sur-Loire within the Loire-Anjou-Touraine French regional natural park (Parc naturel régional Loire-Anjou-Touraine). The complex of monastic buildings served as a prison from 1804 to 1963. Since 1975, it has hosted a cultural centre, the Centre Culturel de l'Ouest.

The Battle of Saumur occurred during the last stages of the Battle of France during World War II, when officer cadets from the Cavalry School at Saumur, led by superintendent Colonel Charles Michon, made a defensive stand along the Loire River at Saumur, Gennes, and Montsoreau. For two days the Cavalry School, and other assorted units which had fallen back before the German Wehrmacht advance, held off a German attack. Since the battle occurred after the message by Marshal Pétain which called for an end to fighting (on 17 June 1940), the event is often considered one of the first acts of the French Resistance.