Château de Bois Chevalier

The Château de Bois Chevalier is a classical 17th-century château located in Legé, in the Loire-Atlantique department of the Pays de la Loire region in western France, near the border with the Vendée (Pays de Retz area).

It was built in 1655 by Olivier du Bois-Chevalier (c. 1601–?), a squire, alderman (échevin) and president of the tribunal of Nantes. Unlike many other châteaux of the period, it did not replace an earlier fortress. His son, Charles-César Chevalier, counsellor to the king, served as mayor of Nantes between 1676 and 1678. The seigneury was elevated to the rank of châtellenie in 1666.

The château is constructed of granite covered with render in a classical style. It consists of a central pavilion around which the façades are arranged symmetrically, together with six other pavilions. It is surrounded by decorative water-filled moats, a large ornamental lake, gardens and woodland. The estate also includes an orangery and a chapel. A notable feature is the grand interior staircase.

During the Wars of the Vendée in 1793 the château was occupied by the royalist leader François Athanase Charette de La Contrie, who held festivities and receptions there. In 1965 it served as a filming location for the movie Le Tonnerre de Dieu (God’s Thunder), directed by Denys de La Patellière and starring Jean Gabin, Michèle Mercier and Robert Hossein.

The grand interior staircase was inscribed as a Monument historique in 1952. The façades and roofs were classified in 1980. In 2021 additional elements of the domain — including the château platform and eastern terrace, the moats and access bridge, the water bodies, the former gardens with their enclosure walls, the wooded park and alleys, the orangery, the chapel and the façades and roofs of the press building — were also inscribed.

The château remains private property and is open for guided tours of the interior and exterior during the summer months.