The Fort of Coudray archaeological excavations

The Archaeology Department of the Indre-et-Loire Departmental Council is organizing an excavation campaign in September 2025 at the Royal Fortress of Chinon as part of a three-year research program. 

This campaign will provide a better understanding of the buildings partially uncovered in 2024 and their evolution until their destruction in the early 13th century. We also hope to reach earlier archaeological levels, corresponding to the era of the Counts of Blois (10th and 11th centuries) and the Gallo-Roman period. 

This research is part of the site's turbulent history: a fortress belonging to the Counts of Blois, then the Counts of Anjou from the 11th century onwards, and the centre of Plantagenet power under Henry II. It was transformed by Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland, taken over by Philip Augustus in 1205, then became a royal residence under Charles VII before being restored and opened to the public in the 19th century.