The Chateau Cheverny reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Chateau Cheverny

Chateau Cheverny (Château de Cheverny) is located in the departement of Loir-et-Cher in the Loire Valley in France. The lands were purchased by Henri Hurault, Comte de Cheverny, and Treasurer for War under King Louis XI.

Lost to the Crown because of fraud to the State, it was donated by King Henri II to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. However, she preferred Chenonceau and sold the property to the former owner’s son, Philippe Hurault, who built the chateau between 1624 and 1630.

During the next 150 years ownership changed many times and in 1765 a major interior renovation was undertaken. Required to forfeit much of the Hurault wealth at the time of the French Revolution, the family sold it in 1802 but bought it back in 1824.

In 1914, the owner opened the chateau to the public, one of the first to ever do so. The family still operates it, and Chateau Cheverny remains a top tourist attraction to this day, renowned for magnificent interior rooms and its collection of furniture, tapestries, and objets d’art.

The Belgian comic book creator Hergé used Cheverny as a model for his fictional "Château de Moulinsart" (Marlinspike Hall in English) in the Tintin books.

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