In the precious garland of the Loire castles, where the art of the Renaissance found its most beautiful French expression, served by landscapes sung by all the poets, Chenonceau is probably the most admired jewel, the most appreciated. The human scale of the château's proportions, the ingenuity of its arrangements, the unique poetry of the place, a river that a castle seems to cross with great strides to pass from one bank to another so much beauty attracts lovers from all over the world. AUTHOR: Jean-Pierre Babelon (1931 - 2024) was member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, inspector general of the Archives de France and then director of the Palace of Versailles and its gardens. Historian, he is a specialist of Henri IV, the history of Paris, the history of architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries, and more particularly that of castles and gardens, as many reference works that earned him the Grand National Heritage Award in 1989. Benjamin Chelly is an architecture and design photographer and portrait artist. SELLING POINTS: . One of the greatest French historians of heritage, recounts the castle of Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers . The new reference work on one of the jewels of the Loire Valley: the best known and most frequented castle with Chambord (more than a million visitors per year) . Chenonceau is a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Includes more than 150 unpublished photographs, supplemented by archival images 150 colour illustrations