Châteaudun

Châteaudun (French pronunciation: [ʃɑtodœ̃]) is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It was the site of the Battle of Châteaudun during the Franco-Prussian War.

Châteaudun
Subprefecture and commune
Chateau
Coat of arms
Location of Châteaudun
Châteaudun Show map of France Châteaudun Show map of Centre-Val de Loire
Coordinates: 48°04′18″N 1°20′19″E
Country	France
Region	Centre-Val de Loire
Department	Eure-et-Loir
Arrondissement	Châteaudun
Canton	Châteaudun
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Fabien Verdier[1]
Area 1	28.48 km2 (11.00 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	12,909
• Density	450/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	28088 /28200
Elevation	102–152 m (335–499 ft) (avg. 140 m or 460 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Geography

Châteaudun is located about 45 km northwest of Orléans, and about 50 km south-southwest of Chartres. It lies on the river Loir, a tributary of the Sarthe.

History

France in 1180 when Angevin kings of England held all the red territories and Chateudun lay near its border.

Châteaudun (Latin Castrodunum), which dates from the Gallo-Roman period, was in the middle ages the capital of the County of Dunois.^[3]

The streets, which radiate from a central square, have a uniformity due to the reconstruction of the town after fires in 1723 and 1870.^[3]

Employment

The area is rich agricultural land, but a major local employer is the Châteaudun Air Base just to the east of the town, and much larger than the town itself.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 5,957 —     1800 6,046 +0.21% 1806 6,161 +0.31% 1821 6,042 −0.13% 1831 6,461 +0.67% 1836 6,776 +0.96% 1841 6,580 −0.59% 1846 6,788 +0.62% 1851 6,745 −0.13% 1856 6,542 −0.61% 1861 6,719 +0.54% 1866 6,781 +0.18% 1872 6,552 −0.57% 1876 6,694 +0.54% 1881 7,036 +1.00% 1886 7,284 +0.70% 1891 7,147 −0.38% 1896 7,460 +0.86%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 7,146 −0.86% 1906 7,147 +0.00% 1911 7,296 +0.41% 1921 6,587 −1.02% 1926 6,558 −0.09% 1931 6,790 +0.70% 1936 7,057 +0.77% 1946 8,145 +1.44% 1954 9,687 +2.19% 1962 11,982 +2.69% 1968 14,450 +3.17% 1975 15,338 +0.86% 1982 15,319 −0.02% 1990 14,511 −0.68% 1999 14,543 +0.02% 2007 13,963 −0.51% 2012 13,039 −1.36% 2017 13,195 +0.24%
Source: EHESS[4] and INSEE (1968-2017)[5]

Main sights

The town has a château, founded in the 10th century,^[3] known for being the first on the road to Loire Valley from Paris. Châteaundun also has a museum, the "Musée des beaux arts et d'histoire naturelle". The museum is diverse, the most popular exhibition being the big collection of stuffed birds. In addition, there are often temporary exhibitions, recent examples including the war of Asia, ancient Egypt and insects.^[6]

Churches

• 
  Saint-Valérien
• 
  La Madeleine
• 
  Saint-Jean-de-la-Chaîne
• 
  Saint-Lubin ruins
• 
  Saint-Lubin ruins
• 
  Notre-Dame-du-Champdé chapel (now cemetery entrance)
• 
  La Boissière chapel

Medieval houses

• 
  Cuirasserie street and Huileries street angle
• 
  Cuirasserie street and Huileries street angle
• 
  Louis Esnault house
• 
  Château's architects' house
• 
  Virgin's house
• 
  Virgin's house (detail)

Personalities

Châteaudun was the birthplace of:

• Pierre Guédron (1570–1620), composer
• Nicolas Chaperon (1612–1656) painter
• Edmond Modeste Lescarbault (1814), doctor and amateur astronomer
• Romain Feillu (1984) road racing cyclist
• Brice Feillu (1985) road racing cyclist

Twin towns - sister cities

Châteaudun is twinned with:^[7]

• Arklow, Ireland
• Kroměříž, Czech Republic
• Marchena, Spain
• Schweinfurt, Germany
• Trois-Rivières, Canada

Gallery

• 
  Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir) Donjon and chapel of the château
• 
  Fountain and façade of the town hall of Châteaudun
• 
  A member of the FFI poses with his Bren gun at Châteaudun - 1944

See also

• Communes of the Eure-et-Loir department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
2. "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Châteaudun". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 962–963.
4. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Châteaudun, EHESS (in French).
5. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
6. Museum website
7. "Villes en coopération". chambery.fr (in French). Châteaudun. Retrieved 20 November 2019.

External links

• Official website (in French)
• Tourist office website Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine (in English and French)