Château de Saumur, Musée des arts décoratifs et du cheval

Figured in all its splendour on the illuminations of the Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, the castle has had an eventful history, narrowly escaping demolition. The 11th century Romanesque tower was surrounded by four round towers before being levelled. Louis I of Anjou transformed the castle into a palace. His son, Louis II, gave it its present silhouette in the 15th century. If the memory of King Rene remains, the castle remained after his death, for a century, uninhabited, before welcoming in 1589 the Protestant governor Duplessis-Mornay. The latter built around the castle a citadel with bastions and redans completed long after his dismissal required by Louis XIII. Under Louis XIV, the castle, a place of garrison and prison, deteriorated badly and his assignment to state prison by Napoleon I saved it from ruin.
In 1906, the castle was purchased by the City of Saumur, which undertook its restoration to house the municipal museum, labeled Musée de France, including the collection of Count Charles Lair.
An exceptional collection of decorative arts, consisting of furniture, tapestries and ceramics from the 14th to 18th century, occupies part of the first floor of the castle. The horse collection, a jewel worthy of a world equestrian capital, is presented through a selection of harness pieces from Antiquity to the beginning of the 20th century.