©Château-Musée de Gien｜Route Jacques Cœur

Gien Castle-Museum Hunting, history and nature in the Loire Valley

Built in the 15th century by Anne de Beaujeu, daughter of Louis XI, the Château de Gien abandoned the defensive aspect of the medieval era for the comfort of the Renaissance. After several changes of ownership, it was purchased in the 19th century by the Département du Loiret to house the sub-prefecture, the court and the prison. Since 1952, the Château has been home to the Musée de la chasse, created by Pierre-Louis Duchartre, Inspector of the Musées de France, and Henri de Linares, 1st Curator.

Awarded the Musée de France label in 2002, the Château-Musée de Gien presents a collection of works of art on the theme of hunting. Paintings, sculptures, tapestries, taxidermy, weapons and hunting accessories take visitors on a journey through the ancient and contemporary history of falconry, venery and shooting.

Postal address: 1 place du Château 45500 Gien
Telephone number: 02 38 67 69 69
E-mail: chateau.musee-gien@loiret.fr

Getting there

What you'll love

A unique hunting museum

Remarkable collections

A Renaissance castle

See all activities

PASS Privilège

Take advantage of over €95 in cumulative savings on all PASS member and partner sites, so you can visit at a smart price!

Privilege Pass price at Château-Musée de Gien: €5 instead of €8 for the visit

Individual visit – Self-guided tour

Full price: €8
Children aged 6 to 17: €5
Reduced admission: €5
Family pass (2 adults and 2 paying children): €22
Annual pass (valid for 1 year and nominative – excluding events organized by an outside provider): €18
Gîte de France reduced rate: €6

Group visit – Self-guided tour

Group rate for 15 people or more (adults): €5/person
Conditions for group visits apply to groups of 15 people or more (adults), with a single payment.

Explanatory labels and multimedia terminals are available along the tour route. You can also discover these areas with a free museum map and room cards, available in French, English, German, Dutch and Spanish.

Wivisites application: scan the QR code on your smartphone and discover the Château-Musée de Gien with the Wivisites audio guides.

Self-guided tour times

October 1 to April 30: Monday to Friday, 1:30 to 5:30 pm – closed on Tuesdays (except public holidays)

Weekends and public holidays: 10am to 12pm and 1:30pm to 5:30pm

May 1 to September 30: Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm – closed Tuesdays (except public holidays)

Last admission: 30min before closing

Annual closure: December 25 and all of January

Length of visit: between 1h and 1h30

Guided tour

Adults: €10
Children aged 6 to 17: €6
Reduced rate: €6

Guided tours in French are available for individual visitors to discover the museum’s hunting collections. Subject to guide availability and excluding special events.

Group visit – Private guided tour

Guided tour in addition to admission fee (€5/person):
Monday to Saturday (except Tuesdays): €75
Sundays and public holidays: €90
Adults with disabilities (DAME, day hospitals, specialized care centers, associations): €2
1 accompanying adult free for every 20 people

The guide takes charge of the group on arrival to discover the Musée de la Chasse.
One guide for 15 to 25 people maximum – foreign-language tours possible (subject to guide availability).

Guided tour schedule

May to September: daily (except Tuesdays) at 10:30 am and 3 pm

October, November, December, February, March and April : daily (except Tuesday) at 3pm on weekdays, and at weekends at 10:30am and 3pm.

Tour duration : 1h30 – 1h45

Departure : minimum 2 people – maximum 20 people

Group bookings: Lydia ZATELA – 02 38 29 81 43 – lydia.zatela@loiret.fr

Information for school groups, family events and accessibility: Muriel OGHARD-MICHOU – 02 38 29 81 46 – muriel.oghard@loiret.fr

Activities

Animated visits (surveys, themed tours) and creative workshops (on the theme of animals, nature or castles) offered during the school vacations.

Géomotif application

With your smartphone: observe, scan and you’re done! A great way to learn more about the history and origins of the building and its hunting collections. The Conseil départemental du Loiret is delighted to offer you this astonishing tour to (re)discover the Château-Musée de Gien, where the pleasure of seeing mingles with the pleasure of knowing…

For 3-5 year-olds

P’tit loup” kit available on loan on request – while stocks last and in exchange for ID.
Take your children on a visit and help them get to know some of the animals featured in the museum! For each animal, the kit includes a discovery and explanation sheet, plus an activity to do with your child (puzzle, motor games, book and puppets, memory or observation games).

For 6-10 year-olds

Game books are available all year round, free of charge, on request from reception.

©Château-Musée de Gien, Weekend Loiretains｜Château-Musée de Gien

Information

For further information on events, contact the Château-Musée de Gien directly by telephone 02 38 67 69 69 or by e-mail at chateau.musee-gien@loiret.fr

©Château-Musée de Gien, Animations Playmobil｜Château-Musée de Gien|DAUFIN Melanie

Free weekend for Loirétains residents

April 6 and 7
Free admission for Loirétains (by birth or residence)

Playmobil® exhibition

April 12 to August 31
Admission to the Château-Musée de Gien

Activities around the Playmobil® exhibition

Spring and summer vacations
Ages 6 and up – Reservation required

Easter or not?” tour

Spring vacations (April 5 to 27)
From 6 years – On reservation
Admission to Château-Musée de Gien

European Museum Night

Saturday May 17th from 6 pm to 10 pm
Free admission

Castle evenings: concert on the terrace

July 19, 26 and August 2, 9 and 16, 8-10pm
Reservations required
Admission to the Château-Musée de Gien

European Heritage Days

September 20 and 21, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Reduced rate for all: €5

Candy Hunt” tour

Autumn vacations (October 18 to November 2)
From 6 years old – On reservation
Admission to Château-Musée de Gien

Arbracadabra” creative workshop

Autumn vacations (October 18 to November 2)
From 6 years – On reservation
Admission to Château-Musée de Gien

Creative workshop “The polar bear, king of the ice floe”.

Christmas vacations (December 20 to December 31)
From 6 years – On reservation
Admission to Château-Musée de Gien

Christmas show

Christmas vacations (December 20 to December 31)
On reservation
Admission to the Château-Musée de Gien

Practical info

Annual opening hours
OCTOBER – APRIL
October 1 to April 30: Monday to Friday, 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm – closed Tuesdays (except public holidays)
Weekends and public holidays: 10am to 12pm and 1:30pm to 5:30pm
MAY – SEPTEMBER
May 1 to September 30: Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. – closed Tuesdays (except on public holidays).
Last admission: 30min before closing
Annual closing: December 25 and all of January
Access and transport
Access by car (parking).
A 77 exit 19, direction Gien – GPS 47.68 – 2.63
Catering
Tearoom in July and August.
Food not permitted in rooms.
Baby areas
- Baby bottle warmer
- Changing mat
- No strollers allowed in rooms
Means of payment
Cash, credit card, cheques, vacation vouchers, YEPS, Chèque Culture, Pass Culture.
Pets
Dogs prohibited (except assistance dogs).
Host languages
Visitors welcome in French and English.
Wivisites application: scan the QR code on your smartphone and discover the Château-Musée de Gien with the Wivisites audio guides.
Specific conditions free of charge
Free admission for individual visitors on self-guided tours for :
- Children under 6
- Donors and heirs
- Press card
- Tour guide
- OCIM
- ICOM
- ICOMOS
- AGCCPF
- Les châteaux de la Loire association passport holders
- Guides for the disabled
- Employees of the Route Jacques Cœur, Loiret Tourist Offices and the Loiret Department
Reduced rates (on presentation of proof of entitlement)
- Students aged 18 to 25
- Jobseekers
- People with disabilities
- Large families
- Recipients of minimum social benefits
- Members of the Association des Amis du Musée and CNAS beneficiaries
- On presentation of a full-price ticket for Château de Chamerolles, Château de Sully-sur-Loire, Musée de la Résistance de Lorris, Musée de la Marine de Loire de Châteauneuf sur Loire, Musée de la Faïencerie de Gien, Château de la Bussière, Château de Saint-Brisson, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature à Paris, Château-Musée de Montpoupon, Musée de la Vénerie de Senlis, Maison du cerf de Villeny, Maison du Braconnage de Chaon, Musée des Transports de Pithiviers and on presentation of a city tour ticket from the Gien Tourist Office.
- Pass Privilège Route Jacques Cœur
(click here to buy your Pass and benefit from reduced rates)
PMR accessibility
Tourism and Handicap label for all 4 disabilities.
The Château-Musée is committed to a policy of facilities and services designed to facilitate visits by disabled visitors.
The building is equipped with an elevator.
Click here for more information on the Château-Musée de Gien website.
Contact us

Photo gallery

©Château-Musée de Gien, Vitrine chasse au vol｜Hachem El Yamani

Find out more about the location

Gien castle before Anne de Beaujeu

Archaeological excavations have revealed the presence of an ancient medieval building located on the belvedere between the castle and the church. This was a seigniorial tower, built between the 9th and 11th centuries. In the mid-12th century, the square tower known as Jeanne d’Arc (named after her visit to the château in 1429, when she sent a letter to the people of Tournai, loyal to King Charles VII, inviting them to his coronation) was built, the only remaining vestige of this first seigniorial building.

The revival of Château de Gien in the 15th century

In 1481, King Louis XI of France presented his daughter Anne de Beaujeu with the county of Gien.
Anne and her husband Pierre II de Beaujeu quickly took possession of their territory and began building a château on the site of the ancient medieval fortress.
Château de Gien was built at a crossroads between the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance.

Spiral staircases and Gothic decorations typical of the Middle Ages are present. But Anne de Beaujeu innovated by adding large windows with mullions and transoms, and by punctuating the façade with geometric shapes and motifs using red and black bricks. Between 1482 and 1493, construction progressed from west to east. The de Beaujeu couple left for Moulins before completion. Château de Gien remained a secondary residence for the couple, returning to the crown on Anne de Beaujeu’s death in 1522. The Château de Gien is considered to be an early French Renaissance château.

The Château de Gien after Anne de Beaujeu

Over the centuries, the château has welcomed prestigious guests: François I, Henri II, Catherine de Médicis and Charles IX, Louis XIV and his court.

In 1823, Viscount de Riccé, Prefect of the Loiret department, purchased the Château de Gien from the Feydeau de Brou family on behalf of the Loiret department. The monument was then refurbished to house the sub-prefecture, a court and a prison. In 1840, the château was listed as a historic monument, and was given special legal status to protect it. The sub-prefecture and prison remained in place until 1926, while the court did not move until 1962.

On Saturday June 15 and Sunday June 16, 1940, German aircraft bombed Gien, destroying much of the town. The château was one of the few monuments still standing; part of its roof was destroyed and a fire spread through the roof timbers, but a “providential” thunderstorm stopped the fire. The day after the Liberation, Gien had to lick its wounds and rebuild everything. 422 buildings destroyed, 300 rendered uninhabitable. The town was in ruins and the château in a very poor state of repair.

The rebuilding work, for which André Laborie was commissioned to draw up the plans, began in June 1946. That same year, to instill courage and urge residents to take action, a poster from the Syndicat d’Initiative, chaired by André Mouron, was widely distributed: “ GIENNOIS, VOTRE VILLE MEURT: RESSUSCITONS-LA” (“GIENNOIS, YOUR TOWN IS GETTING BETTER: let’s rebuild it “). This slogan appealed to Pierre-Louis Duchartre, senior inspector of provincial museums, who had long wanted to create a hunting museum along the lines of the Musée de la Vénerie in Senlis. He called on Henri de Linares, a talented hunter and wildlife painter, to help him with this project. Henri de Linares and Pierre-Louis Duchartre built up a prestigious collection through a subtle interplay of deposits, gifts and acquisitions from collectors and major institutions. The Musée de la Chasse opened its doors to the public in June 1952, becoming a national reference in the field.

©Château-Musée de Gien, Chaperons｜Hachem El Yamani

Awarded the Musée de France label in 2002, the Château-Musée de Gien exhibits paintings, sculptures, tapestries, taxidermy, weapons and hunting accessories on the theme of hunting in flight (also known as falconry), venison and shooting.

Find the Château-Musée de Gien on its website and networks:

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