Q 01/05

Thomas Bohier built Chenonceau in the 1510s on the stone foundations of which older riverside building?

A) A monastery

B) An old mill

C) A toll house

D) A hunting lodge

Answer · why

B) An old mill

An old mill left behind the massive stone piers the château stands on, and the kitchens are fitted inside them. Bohier's wife, Katherine Briçonnet, ov...

Q 02/05

The Menier family, owners of the Château de Chenonceau since 1913, built their fortune making which product?

A) Chocolate

B) Champagne

C) Perfume

D) Porcelain

Answer · why

A) Chocolate

Chocolate paid for the purchase, but Henri Menier died only months after buying the château. It passed to his brother Gaston, and the family still own...

Q 03/05

Catherine de' Medici's 1560 party at Chenonceau is said to have given France its first display of which spectacle?

A) Shadow plays

B) Puppet shows

C) Fireworks

D) Masked balls

Answer · why

C) Fireworks

Fireworks marked her son's accession to the throne. As regent, Catherine spent a fortune on spectacular night-time parties at the château.

Q 04/05

Widowed at Chenonceau in 1589, Louise of Lorraine wore which mourning color of French queens for life?

A) Black

B) Purple

C) Gray

D) White

Answer · why

D) White

White was the traditional mourning color of French queens, so Louise became known as the White Queen. Her bedroom walls at the château, by contrast, w...

Q 05/05

The Château de Chenonceau strides across which river, a Loire tributary that also gives its name to a French department?

A) The Indre

B) The Cher

C) The Vienne

D) The Allier

Answer · why

B) The Cher

The Cher flows right under the château's arches, so the building doubles as a bridge. A flood on the river in 1940 ravaged the gardens.