Photo Mehun Sur Yevre
For one year, save over €100 on admission tickets and events at over 30 sites (châteaux, parks, gardens, museums, exhibitions, historic towns, etc.).
Privilege Pass price at Mehun-sur-Yèvre: €3 instead of €6 for a visit to the Pôle de la Porcelaine and the Château-Musée Charles VII
Full price: €10
Duration 2 hours – Bookings by telephone on 02 48 57 06 19 or by e-mail at [email protected]
Full price: €10
Bookings by telephone on 02 48 57 00 71 or by e-mail at [email protected]
Open from 7 April to 1 November
7 April to 3 July: Tuesday to Sunday, 2.30pm to 6pm
4 July to 31 August: daily, 10.30am to 12pm and 2.30pm to 6.30pm
3 to 18 October: Saturdays and Sundays only, 2.30pm to 6pm
20 to 1 November: Tuesday to Sunday, 2.30pm to 6pm
Annual closure: 2 November to mid-March, except for groups by appointment
Open every day except Mondays from 2.30pm to 6pm during the Easter and All Saints’ Day holidays – Open every public holiday during the season.
Stroll along the banks of the Canal de Berry with special cycle access.
Free – All year round.
Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Canal de Berry｜VMSY
2 hours of investigation – Humour, suspense and comedy, two hours of guaranteed excitement. Become an investigator for an evening. Discover this new type of murder party made in Berry!
Saturday 20 June at 6.30pm and Saturday 10 October at 6pm:
Porcelain and Castle Centre-Charles VII Museum
Open from 28 March to 1 November
7 April to 3 July: Tuesday to Sunday, 2.30pm to 6pm
4 July to 31 August: daily, 10.30am to 12pm and 2.30pm to 6.30pm
3 to 18 October: Saturdays and Sundays only, 2.30pm to 6pm
20 to 1 November: Tuesday to Sunday, 2.30pm to 6pm
Annual closure: 2 November to mid-March, except for groups by appointment
Open every day except Mondays from 2.30pm to 6pm during the Easter and All Saints’ Day holidays – Open every public holiday during the season.
Access by bike, car, train (SNCF station) and bus (bus line 185 – Bourges < Vierzon).
Car park on Place du Général Leclerc at the foot of the château.
Cycle shelters near the Pôle de la Porcelaine and the Charles VII château-museum.
A 71 exit 6 (Vierzon), exit 7 (Bourges), then D2076 – 18km from Bourges – 16km from Vierzon – GPS: 47.14 – 2.21
Cafeteria at the Pôle de la Porcelaine.
Click here for a list of the town’s restaurants.
Cheque, cash, credit card.
Visitors welcome in French and English.
Free for jobseekers, children under 10 and people with disabilities.
Privilege Pass price at Mehun-sur-Yèvre: €3 instead of €6 for a visit to the Pôle de la Porcelaine and the Château-Musée Charles VII
(click here to buy your Pass and benefit from reduced rates)
PRM access to the Pôle de la Porcelaine (lift).
One disabled parking space in front of the Pôle de la Porcelaine.
Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Château Charles VII and Joan of Arc statue｜VMSY
Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Staircase Château Charles VII｜VMSY
Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Canal de Berry｜VMSY
Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Joan of Arc statue｜VMSY
City of Mehun-sur-Yèvre｜Route Jacques Cœur
City of Mehun-sur-Yèvre｜Route Jacques Cœur
The first document to mention the castle is a charter dating back to 820 AD, which specifies the name Magdunum. The site was altered almost a dozen times between the 9th and 14th centuries. The only evidence of the earliest period can be seen in the post holes in the cellars, which were used to support the first wooden buildings.
City of Mehun-sur-Yèvre｜Route Jacques Cœur
So it was on the foundations of a defensive castle that Jean de Berry had one of the most beautiful residences in the world built, as Froissart, the great 14th century chronicler, liked to say! Duke Jean de Berry was a great prince, and as he liked to say himself, he was the son, brother and uncle of a king! This great patron of the arts and lover of the arts was in fact the son of King John II the Good, brother of Charles V and uncle of Charles VI. He owned 17 châteaux throughout the kingdom of France and spent almost 30 years working on Mehun, turning it into an exceptional pleasure residence at the crossroads of Flamboyant Gothic and International Gothic! Just imagine the additional 20m of stone superstructure above the keep.
The Duke died in 1416 at the age of 76 without a male heir, and his possessions fell to Charles de Valois, the future Charles VII, who fled Paris, which had fallen into the hands of his Burgundian enemies allied with the English. He arrived at the castle in 1422 and breathed his last in 1461! He resided in Mehun and conducted his politics from Bourges, a little like Versailles and Paris a few centuries later. Many famous people came to Mehun: Jacques Cœur, a great traveller and the king’s treasurer, Joan of Arc, who received her letters of nobility here on 29 December 1429, and the beautiful Agnès(Sorel!), mistress of King Charles VII.
After the death of Charles VII, Berry fell into disuse, with his son Louis XI preferring the banks of the Loire. A garrison took up residence in the castle. The first signs of destruction appeared in the 16th century when the “ fires of God “, lightning, struck the metal superstructures that decorated the castle’s chapel. The roofs and frameworks disappeared and the château remained in this state until the Revolution, when it was confiscated as national property and bought by a quarryman who dismantled it over a period of 22 years. It became the property of the town in the 19th century, the spiral staircase was rebuilt and the museum opened in 1903.
Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Château Charles VII｜VMSY
City of Mehun-sur-Yèvre｜Route Jacques Cœur
A major site in French history, the château dominates a setting of water and greenery… Transformed into stone laceworks built for Jean de Berry, the favourite residence of King Charles VII, this site has welcomed Charles V, Joan of Arc, Jacques Cœur, Louis XI, Louis XII, Henri II… Mehun is a certain idea of the Renaissance before the Loire Valley.
Beneath the high, elegant vaults of the keep, which witnessed the ennoblement of Joan of Arc, the collections cover a wide range of themes relating to the Middle Ages: from the construction of the building to sculptures, from daily life to pomp and circumstance, from archaeology to the history of the most famous figures, with an emphasis on major works from the French Middle Ages. Guided tours take visitors from surprise to surprise, right up to the panoramic terrace.
Place du Général Leclerc 18500 Mehun-sur-Yèvre – 02 48 57 00 71
Porcelain was first manufactured in Europe in the 18th century. Under the impetus of Charles Pillivuyt, production developed in Mehun-sur-Yèvre in the mid-19th century. Two centuries later, the Mehun company is still a leader in its sector: culinary arts and Michelin-starred restaurants.
The Pôle de la Porcelaine showcases the finest pieces of porcelain from the Berry region in a modern and original scenography: unique pieces created byAlphonse Lamarre ‘s “la Spéciale” workshop, veritable jewels of Art Nouveau; timeless and emblematic objects such as the “bar à pans” or “tasse bistrot” cup created in 1904, the mazagran, the lion’s head soup tureen, etc.
Rue des Grands Moulins 18500 Mehun-sur-Yèvre – 02 48 57 06 19
Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Pôle de la Porcelaine｜VMSY
Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Musée Château Charles VII｜VMSY
Logo City Of Mehun Sur Yevre
Logo Pole De La Porcelaine Mehun Sur Yevre
Logo Les Plus Beaux Detours De France 1
Berry Province logo
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