Château de Gien, Medieval castle in Gien, France

Château de Gien is a red-brick castle with slate roofs on a rock ridge above the right bank of the Loire. Its long two-storey south wing meets a short three-storey east wing, their corner marked by a round tower with a conical roof and lantern. A square tower with a flat pyramid roof, the Tour Charlemagne, fronts the river side, and black-glazed bricks form geometric patterns in the courtyard walls.

Anne of France received the county of Gien from her father Louis XI in December 1481 and rebuilt the castle from 1494 to 1500 on the site of an older fortress damaged in 1378 by Robert Knolles' troops. Henry II, Charles IX, Henry III and Catherine de Medici stayed there, and in March 1652 Louis XIV, his mother Anne of Austria and Mazarin took refuge during the Fronde.

The castle houses France's primary hunting museum, displaying over 3000 objects that show how hunting methods and weapons evolved through the centuries. Visitors see the role these practices held in French society and how they changed over time.

The castle stands on a rocky spur on the north bank of the Loire, above the town centre, next to the former collegiate church of Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc. A terrace below the river-facing facade, rebuilt from medieval plans, is linked to the town by several stairways. The building is a classified monument historique and has housed the Musée International de la Chasse since 1952.

The castle was built before the Italian Renaissance movement influenced French architecture, so it retains pure Gothic style rather than mixed elements. This early construction makes it a rare example of French architecture from before this major shift.