Château de Médan, Renaissance castle in Médan, France.
The castle stands on a hillside by the Seine River, featuring a main building from the 15th century and an extended wing added in the 18th century.
Originally built as a hunting lodge in the late 15th century, the castle became a residence for King Henry IV during his hunting expeditions in the region.
Pierre de Ronsard and other poets of La Pléiade group gathered at the castle during the 16th century, establishing it as a center of French Renaissance literature.
Visitors can schedule guided tours throughout the year, which include refreshments in the wine cellar and require a minimum group of twelve participants.
Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck lived in the castle from 1924, where he wrote 'The Life of Termites' and 'The Glass Spider'.
Location: Médan
Address: rue Pierre-Curie
GPS coordinates: 48.95270,1.99428
Latest update: June 23, 2025 09:50
France preserves the homes of its greatest writers, transformed today into literary museums. From Balzac's house in Paris, where the author of 'The Human Comedy' wrote his novels while drinking countless coffees, to Nohant Castle in Berry where George Sand met Chopin and Flaubert, these places tell the story of French literary creation. You can also visit Montaigne's tower in Périgord, where the philosopher wrote his Essays surrounded by his library, or the Château Monte-Cristo built by Alexandre Dumas after the success of his adventure novels. These houses offer direct access to the worlds of the authors who lived there. The priory of Saint-Cosme near Tours preserves the memory of Ronsard, a Renaissance poet, while the house of Aunt Léonie in Illiers-Combray takes visitors back to Marcel Proust’s childhood. In Normandy, Maurice Leblanc’s residence in Étretat celebrates Arsène Lupin’s universe, and in the Basque Country, the Arnaga villa showcases Edmond Rostand’s regional architecture, author of 'Cyrano de Bergerac.' Each visit helps understand how these writers lived, worked, and drew inspiration from their daily environments.
Maison d'Émile Zola à Médan
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École Notre-Dame les Oiseaux
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Château de Verneuil-sur-Seine
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Bowlcenter
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Île de Migneaux
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Parc Meissonier
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Église Saint-Martin
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Île de la Dérivation
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Château Vanderbilt
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Pont suspendu de Triel
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Pont de Poissy
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Pont de Triel-sur-Seine
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Château de Villennes
1.5 km
Église Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul d'Orgeval
3.9 km
Pont de l'île de Migneaux
3.6 km
Église Saint-Martin de Verneuil-sur-Seine
3.4 km
Église Saint-Nicolas de Villennes-sur-Seine
1.6 km
Église Saint-Roch
3.9 km
Eglise Saint-Etienne de Vernouillet
2.3 km
Pont de Villennes
1.5 km
Golf de Villennes
2.3 km
Baptismal font of Église Saint-Martin (Triel-sur-Seine)
3.4 km
Villa Saint-Louis
3.8 km
Église Saint-Germain de Médan
272 m
Théâtre Octave Mirbeau
3.2 km
Statue du peintre Ernest Meissonier
3.8 km
Hôtel de M. Bourgeois
3.9 km
Plage de Villennes
581 mReviews
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