Château de Chaumont The Château de Chaumont ( or Château de Chaumont - sur - Loire ) is a castle in Chaumont - sur - Loire , Loir - et - Cher , France . The castle was founded in the 10th century by Odo I , Count of Blois . After Pierre d ' Amboise rebelled against Louis XI , the king ordered the castle ' s destruction . Later in the 15th century Château de Chaumont was rebuilt by Charles I d ' Amboise . Protected as a " monument historique " since 1840 , the château was given into state ownership in 1938 and is now open to the public . History . The name " Chaumont " derives from the French " chauve mont " , meaning " bald hill " . The first castle on this site , situated between Blois and Amboise , was built by Odo I , Count of Blois , in the 10th century , with the purpose of protecting his lands from attacks from his feudal rivals , Fulk Nerra , Count of Anjou . On his behalf the Norman Gelduin received it , improved it and held it as his own . His great - niece Denise de Fougère , having married Sulpice d ' Amboise , passed the château into the Amboise family for five centuries . Pierre d ' Amboise unsuccessfully rebelled against King Louis XI and his property was confiscated , and the castle was dismantled on royal order in 1465 . It was later rebuilt by Charles I d ' Amboise from 1465 – 1475 and then finished by his son , Charles II d ' Amboise de Chaumont from 1498 – 1510 , with help from his uncle , Cardinal Georges d ' Amboise ; some Renaissance features were to be seen in buildings that retained their overall medieval appearance . The château was acquired by Catherine de Medici in 1560 . There she entertained numerous astrologers , among them Nostradamus . When her husband , Henry II , died in 1559 she forced his mistress , Diane de Poitiers , to exchange Château de Chaumont for Château de Chenonceau which Henry had given to de Poitiers . Diane de Poitiers only lived at Chaumont for a short while . In 1594 , at the death of Diane ' s granddaughter Charlotte de la Marck , the château passed to her husband , Henri de La Tour d ' Auvergne , Duke of Bouillon , who sold it to a tax farmer Largentier , who had grown rich on gathering in the salt tax called the " gabelle " . Largentier eventually being arrested for peculation , the château and the title of " sieur de Chaumont " passed into a family originating at Lucca , who possessed it until 1667 , when it passed by family connections to the seigneurs de Ruffignac . Paul de Beauvilliers , duc de Beauvilliers and later duc de Saint - Aignan , bought the château in 1699 , modernized some of its interiors and decorated it with sufficient grandeur to house the duc d ' Anjou on his way to become king of Spain in 1700 . His eventual heir was forced to sell Chaumont to pay his debts to a " maître des requêtes ordinaire " to Louis XV , Monsieur Bertin , who demolished the north wing built by Charles II d ' Amboise and the Cardinal d ' Amboise , to open the house towards the river view in the modern fashion . In 1750 , Jacques - Donatien Le Ray purchased the castle as a country home where he established a glassmaking and pottery factory . He was considered the French " Father of the American Revolution " because he loved America . However , in 1789 , the new French Revolution ary Government seized Le Ray ' s assets , including his beloved Château de Chaumont . Madame de Staël later acquired the château in 1810 . The comte d ' Aramon bought the neglected château in 1833 , undertook extensive renovations under the architect Jules Potier de la Morandière of Blois , who was later inspector of the works at the château de Blois ; M . d ' Aramon installed a museum of medieval arts in the " " Tour de Catherine de Médicis " " . By 1851 the " Chaumont suite " of early - 16th century Late Gothic tapestries with subjects of courntry life emblemmatic of the triumph of Eternity , closely associated with Chaumont and now at the Cleveland Museum of Art , was still hanging in the " " Chambre de Catherine de Médicis " " ; the tapestries had been cut and pieced to fit the room . The castle has been classified as a " Monument historique " since 1840 by the French Ministry of Culture . Marie - Charlotte Say , heiress to the Léon Say sugar fortune , acquired Chaumont in 1875 . Later that year , she married Amédée de Broglie , who commissioned the luxurious stables in 1877 to designs by Paul - Ernest Sanson , further restored the château under Sanson ' s direction and replanted the surrounding park in the English naturalistic landscape fashion . She donated Château de Chaumont to the government in 1938 . The Château de Chaumont is currently a museum and every year hosts a Garden Festival from April to October where contemporary garden designers display their work in an English - style garden .