Château de Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye, Renaissance castle in Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye, France

The Château de Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye is a brick and stone Renaissance building with a long two-storey central range and two taller pavilions at either end, crowned by false machicolations. A row of dormer windows crosses the dark slate roof, and brick chimney stacks rise from the ridge. It is ringed by dry moats, and the spacing of its windows is noticeably irregular.

Antoine de Rochechouart built the castle in the 1530s as a fortified residence during the Renaissance period. The building passed through several owners before the town acquired it in 1985 and opened it to visitors.

The château houses the Musée du Grès, which displays the ceramic and stoneware traditions that shaped the local region for generations. The collection shows how pottery craftsmanship was central to daily life and commerce in this area.

The château stands in the centre of Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye and is owned by the commune, which bought it on 4 October 1985. Visits cover the interior rooms, among them the grand staircase, the chapel and the kitchen. The building is surrounded by dry moats, so expect uneven ground and steps; the brick and stone façades are best examined from the courtyard side.

The castle's dry moats survive, but the most unexpected resident was Paul Jeanneney, who took possession in 1898 and turned the outbuildings into a stoneware workshop where he practised enamelling. In 1920 the town council refused to buy the castle by a single vote.