Châteaudun () is a commune in the

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.department in northern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It was the site of the Battle of Châteaudun during the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

Geography

Châteaudun is located about 45 km northwest of

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Chartres Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...

. It lies on the river

Loir The Loir is a long river in western France. It is a left tributary of the Sarthe. Its source is in the Eure-et-Loir department, north of Illiers-Combray. It joins the river Sarthe in Briollay, north of the city of Angers. It is indirectly ...

, a tributary of the

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

History

Châteaudun (Latin ), which dates from the

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

period, was in the middle ages the capital of the County of Dunois. The streets, which radiate from a central square, have a uniformity due to the reconstruction of the town after fires in 1723 and 1870.

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

Main sights

The town has a

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

, founded in the 10th century, known for being the first on the road to Loire Valley from Paris. Châteaundun also has a museum, the . 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.

Churches

File:Chateaudun - Église Saint-Valérien (1).jpg, Saint-Valérien File:Chateaudun - Eglise Madeleine (1).jpg, La Madeleine File:Chateaudun - Eglise St Jean de la Chaine (1).jpg, Saint-Jean-de-la-Chaîne File:Chateaudun - Eglise Saint-Lubin (1).jpg, Saint-Lubin ruins File:SaintLubain.jpg, Saint-Lubin ruins File:Chateaudun - Champde 05.jpg, Notre-Dame-du-Champdé chapel (now cemetery entrance) File:Chateaudun - Chapelle de la Boissiere (1).jpg, La Boissière chapel

Medieval houses

File:Chateaudun - Maison angle Cuirasserie Huileries (1).jpg, Cuirasserie street and Huileries street angle File:Chateaudun - Maison angle Cuirasserie Huileries (2).jpg, Cuirasserie street and Huileries street angle File:Chateaudun - Maison St Lubin (1).jpg, Louis Esnault house File:Chateaudun - Maison des architectes (1).jpg, Château's architects' house File:Chateaudun - Maison de la Vierge (2).jpg, Virgin's house File:Chateaudun - Maison de la Vierge (3).jpg, Virgin's house (detail)

Personalities

Châteaudun was the birthplace of: * Pierre Guédron (1570–1620),

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

* Nicolas Chaperon (1612–1656)

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

* Edmond Modeste Lescarbault (1814), doctor and amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

* Romain Feillu (1984) road racing cyclist * Brice Feillu (1985) road racing cyclist

Twin towns - sister cities

Châteaudun is twinned with: *

Arklow Arklow ( ; ; ) is a town in County Wicklow on the southeast coast of Ireland. The town is overlooked by Ballymoyle Hill. It was founded by the Vikings in the ninth century. Arklow was the site of one of the Battle of Arklow, bloodiest battles ...

, Ireland * Kroměříž, Czech Republic *

Marchena ''Marchena'' is a genus of jumping spiders only found in the United States. Its only described species, ''M. minuta'', dwells on the barks of conifers along the west coast, especially California, Washington and Nevada.Maddison, Wayne. 1995. ...

, Spain *

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a town#Germany, city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding Schweinfurt (district), district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultur ...

, Germany *

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

, Canada

Gallery

Image:Chateaudun Chateau 03.jpg, Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir) Donjon and chapel of the château Image:France Eure-et-Loir Chateaudun Place de la mairie.JPG, Fountain and façade of the town hall of Châteaudun Image:Member of the FFI.jpg, A member of the FFI poses with his Bren gun at Châteaudun - 1944