Château de Château-Thierry

The castle is located on a hill overlooking the city and the valley of the Marne. The occupation of the site dates from the fifth century, but the walls were built gradually from the ninth century and the seventeenth century, notably by Count Thibaut IV of Blois (Count of Blois and Champagne).
Isolated rock fifty feet high and more than four hundred meters long, first oppidum Gallic and Merovingian place, the castle was home to the first house on high idle king Thierry IV under the tutelage of Charles Martel. The Counts of Champagne Thierry Thibault and raised their ruins in the tenth century and twelfth century.
From the early nineteenth century, the walls of the Castle (which had stayed kings and ministers) are shaved, leaving only the walls, the Porte Saint John and the Postern. There is little trace today of the building time of the Counts of Champagne, with its keep, its church, cemetery, discounts, stables, kilns, shops, mills, not to mention the odd "well of the Abyss ", the underground and towers.

The entrance to the castle
In the center was built dungeon in the eighth century by Charles Martel for King Thierry IV, grand son of Dagobert III.
In the twelfth century were built fifteen towers which were the main tower of the King (so named because in the tenth century the King of France Charles the Simple was imprisoned for four years by Hugh of Vermandois, then lord of the city), then the red tower (because the vault was paneled with red brick) and the tower of Bouillon (Bouillon family who ruled the city for nearly two hundred years). The towers were spaced from each other about fifty meters.
Access to the castle by the Porte Saint-Pierre, completed by the end of the fourteenth century. Contrary to popular belief and the plate comémorative therein, Joan of Arc coming back from Reims with Charles VII after his coronation in 1429, did not pass under this door. In fact, Joan of Arc came through the door south of the city and exited through the north gate. She had to drive out the English who occupied Chateau-Thierry for eight years, from 1421 to 1429).
At the time, Chateau-Thierry had four doors. Today there remains only the Porte Saint-Pierre.
Then, passing under an arch ogival (destroyed in 1845) we reached the gate of Saint-Jean (which dates from the fourteenth century).
In the castle there were successively the Church of Our Lady of the castle, dating from the thirteenth century, and the gallery built in the sixteenth century country house set back from the Tower of Bouillon and the tower of the King. It was here that King Louis XIII stayed when he came to live at Chateau-Thierry from 1631 to 1635. Richelieu had built a house at the other end.
In the Middle Ages, the castle did not include less than 2000 men at arms.
The castle has monumental kitchens from the late Middle Ages, revealed by archaeological excavations.
The castle is listed in the register of historic monuments since 1932.