Chenonceaux, a famous French château, standing partly on an island in the Cher, partly on a bridge spanning the river, near a station 20 miles E. by S. of Tours by rail. It was commenced in 1524 by the Chancellor Thomas Bohier, continued by Diana of Poitiers, and completed by Catharine de' Medici, who richly embellished the building, and surrounded it with a beautiful park.
It passed into the hands of the Condés, and afterwards of Madame Dupin, widow of a fermier général, who here was visited by Montesquieu, Bolingbroke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Buffon, and others. The castle is in excellent preservation; it possesses a fine chapel, a theatre, and memorials of its former occupants in furniture, personal relics, ciphers, and a collection of portraits.