Château d'Effiat

The castle complex was built between 1626 and 1628 on behalf of Antoine Coëffier de Ruzé, an advisor to King Louis XIII and later Marshal of France. Ruzé, whose possessions were elevated to a marquisate in 1627, commissioned architects such as Jacques Lemercier and Clément Métezeau, as well as the royal gardener André Mollet, to redesign the town of Effiat. After the completion of the castle, a church, a school run by the Oratorian Congregation, and a hospital were added between 1630 and 1632. A planned settlement could not be realized after Ruzé's death.