Montrichard
Encyclopedia
Montrichard is a town and commune in the Loir-et-Cher
département
, in France
.
Loir-et-Cher
Loir-et-Cher is a département in north-central France named after the rivers Loir and Cher.-History:Loir-et-Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Orléanais and...
département
Départements of France
The departments of France are French administrative divisions. The 101 departments form one of the three levels of local government, together with the 22 metropolitan and 5 overseas regions above them and more than 36 000 communes beneath them...
, in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Geography
The town lies on the north bank of the Cher river. 32 kilometres (20 mi)south of Blois, 73 kilometres (45 mi)west of Vierzon and 42 kilometres (26 mi)east of Tours. The countryside is mainly constituted of vineyard, woods, cattle and cereals.Sites and monuments
- Château de MontrichardChâteau de MontrichardThe Château de Montrichard is a ruined 11th century castle located at the heart of the commune of Montrichard in the Loir-et-Cher département of France. The property of the commune, it has been listed since 1877 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.The castle was constructed...
, a medieaval castleCastleA castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
. - Nanteuil Church (12th, 13th, 15th centuries), whose statue of the Virgin MaryMary (mother of Jesus)Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
is the object of a very ancient pilgrimagePilgrimageA pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
on Whit MondayWhit MondayWhit Monday or Pentecost Monday is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a movable feast in the Christian calendar. It is movable because it is determined by the date of Easter....
. - Church of the Holy Cross (Église Ste-Croix) has a fine RomanesqueRomanesque architectureRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
doorway and was the site of Joan of France's marriage to the future king. - Château de Pont-Cher, a 15th century home built into the cliff, containing the René Galloux collection of prehistoric and Gallo-Roman artefacts from excavations in the Cher valley.
Notable people
- Joan of France, Duchess of BerryJoan of France, Duchess of BerryJoan of France was briefly Queen consort of France as wife of King Louis XII of France, in between the death of her brother, Charles VIII, and the annulment of her marriage....
, married the future king of France Louis XII in Montrichard, though the marriage was later annulled. - André Alerme, a French actor who appeared in more than 70 films, died here in 1960.
- Paulette Abagnale, mother of Frank AbagnaleFrank AbagnaleFrank William Abagnale, Jr. is an American security consultant known for his history as a former confidence trickster, check forger, impostor, and escape artist...
, con artist
Popular Cultural
- referenced in the 2002 feature film Catch Me If You CanCatch Me If You CanCatch Me If You Can is a 2002 American biographical comedy-drama film based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor...
, as the town which the mother of Frank AbagnaleFrank AbagnaleFrank William Abagnale, Jr. is an American security consultant known for his history as a former confidence trickster, check forger, impostor, and escape artist...
is from. Later in the movie Frank Abagnale is tracked down by the FBI and arrested in this town where, he has set up a high end printing facility for printing corporate checks.