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Shortened history of the castle:
The castle stands on a small hill next to Lac Tranquille (Lake Tranquil) and archives show that a first castle was built exactly on this spot around 1025 by Archbishop Guinguené.
The castle consists of four large, powerful buildings of dressed granite, with crenellations and machicolations, enclosing a rectangular courtyard. In each corner of this massive fortress is a round tower, also with crenellations and machicolations, with conical roofs.
In 1761, the Chateaubriand family acquired the property and it was the childhood home of François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848).
The writer François-René de Chateaubriand spoke in his diarys of the ghosts which apparently haunt the castle of Combourg. He said local residents suggested "that a count of Combourg with a wooden leg dead since tree centuries came back at some times" . It is reported haunting the stairs of the castle and sometimes accompanied by a black cat. And indeed, during the restoration of the castle in 1876, workers discovered walled up in a room ... a momified cat (a rural tradition in the Middle Ages was to wall cats in the foundation of all new construction, to avert bad luck).
Privately-owned, the Combourg castle is listed as a historical monument since 1966.
Opening times and additionnal information:
April, May, June, September and October :
from 10am to 12pm & from 2pm to 6pm
Visits of 45min at 2pm and 5pm
July and August:
from 9.30am to 12.30pm & from 2pm to 6pm
Visits of 45min at 10.30am, 11.15am, 2pm and 5.30pm
Castle is open everyday except saturdays.
Telephone number for reservations : +33 2 99 73 22 95
