Châteaudun

Châteaudun (French pronunciation: [ʃɑtodœ̃]) is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It was the site of the Battle of Châteaudun during the Franco-Prussian War.

Châteaudun
Subprefecture and commune
Chateau
Coat of arms
Location of Châteaudun
Châteaudun Show map of France Châteaudun Show map of Centre-Val de Loire
Coordinates: 48°04′18″N 1°20′19″E
Country	France
Region	Centre-Val de Loire
Department	Eure-et-Loir
Arrondissement	Châteaudun
Canton	Châteaudun
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Fabien Verdier[1]
Area 1	28.48 km2 (11.00 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	12,898
• Density	450/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	28088 /28200
Elevation	102–152 m (335–499 ft) (avg. 140 m or 460 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Geography

Châteaudun is located about 45 km northwest of Orléans, and about 50 km south-southwest of Chartres. It lies on the river Loir, a tributary of the Sarthe.

History

France in 1180 when Angevin kings of England held all the red territories and Chateudun lay near its border.

Châteaudun (Latin Castrodunum), which dates from the Gallo-Roman period, was in the middle ages the capital of the County of Dunois.^[3]

The streets, which radiate from a central square, have a uniformity due to the reconstruction of the town after fires in 1723 and 1870.^[3]

Employment

The area is rich agricultural land, but a major local employer is the Châteaudun Air Base just to the east of the town, and much larger than the town itself.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 5,957 —     1800 6,046 +0.21% 1806 6,161 +0.31% 1821 6,042 −0.13% 1831 6,461 +0.67% 1836 6,776 +0.96% 1841 6,580 −0.59% 1846 6,788 +0.62% 1851 6,745 −0.13% 1856 6,542 −0.61% 1861 6,719 +0.54% 1866 6,781 +0.18% 1872 6,552 −0.57% 1876 6,694 +0.54% 1881 7,036 +1.00% 1886 7,284 +0.70% 1891 7,147 −0.38% 1896 7,460 +0.86%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 7,146 −0.86% 1906 7,147 +0.00% 1911 7,296 +0.41% 1921 6,587 −1.02% 1926 6,558 −0.09% 1931 6,790 +0.70% 1936 7,057 +0.77% 1946 8,145 +1.44% 1954 9,687 +2.19% 1962 11,982 +2.69% 1968 14,450 +3.17% 1975 15,338 +0.86% 1982 15,319 −0.02% 1990 14,511 −0.68% 1999 14,543 +0.02% 2007 13,963 −0.51% 2012 13,039 −1.36% 2017 13,195 +0.24%
Source: EHESS[4] and INSEE (1968-2017)[5]

Main sights

The town has a château, founded in the 10th century,^[3] known for being the first on the road to Loire Valley from Paris. Châteaundun also has a museum, the "Musée des beaux arts et d'histoire naturelle". The museum is diverse, the most popular exhibition being the big collection of stuffed birds. In addition, there are often temporary exhibitions, recent examples including the war of Asia, ancient Egypt and insects.^[6]

Churches

• 
  Saint-Valérien
• 
  La Madeleine
• 
  Saint-Jean-de-la-Chaîne
• 
  Saint-Lubin ruins
• 
  Saint-Lubin ruins
• 
  Notre-Dame-du-Champdé chapel (now cemetery entrance)
• 
  La Boissière chapel

Medieval houses

• 
  Cuirasserie street and Huileries street angle
• 
  Cuirasserie street and Huileries street angle
• 
  Louis Esnault house
• 
  Château's architects' house
• 
  Virgin's house
• 
  Virgin's house (detail)

Personalities

Châteaudun was the birthplace of:

• Pierre Guédron (1570–1620), composer
• Nicolas Chaperon (1612–1656) painter
• Edmond Modeste Lescarbault (1814), doctor and amateur astronomer
• Romain Feillu (1984) road racing cyclist
• Brice Feillu (1985) road racing cyclist

Twin towns - sister cities

Châteaudun is twinned with:^[7]

• Arklow, Ireland
• Kroměříž, Czech Republic
• Marchena, Spain
• Schweinfurt, Germany
• Trois-Rivières, Canada

Gallery

• 
  Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir) Donjon and chapel of the château
• 
  Fountain and façade of the town hall of Châteaudun
• 
  A member of the FFI poses with his Bren gun at Châteaudun - 1944

Climate

Climate data for Châteaudun (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1952–present)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	15.7 (60.3)	21.0 (69.8)	25.4 (77.7)	28.0 (82.4)	32.1 (89.8)	37.8 (100.0)	41.7 (107.1)	39.3 (102.7)	35.2 (95.4)	29.9 (85.8)	21.7 (71.1)	17.1 (62.8)	41.7 (107.1)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	7.1 (44.8)	8.6 (47.5)	12.6 (54.7)	15.9 (60.6)	19.4 (66.9)	23.0 (73.4)	25.8 (78.4)	25.8 (78.4)	21.8 (71.2)	16.6 (61.9)	10.9 (51.6)	7.6 (45.7)	16.3 (61.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	4.3 (39.7)	4.8 (40.6)	7.8 (46.0)	10.4 (50.7)	13.9 (57.0)	17.3 (63.1)	19.6 (67.3)	19.6 (67.3)	16.0 (60.8)	12.1 (53.8)	7.5 (45.5)	4.7 (40.5)	11.5 (52.7)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	1.4 (34.5)	1.0 (33.8)	3.0 (37.4)	4.8 (40.6)	8.4 (47.1)	11.6 (52.9)	13.4 (56.1)	13.3 (55.9)	10.2 (50.4)	7.6 (45.7)	4.1 (39.4)	1.8 (35.2)	6.7 (44.1)
Record low °C (°F)	−18.8 (−1.8)	−17.2 (1.0)	−11.8 (10.8)	−6.3 (20.7)	−2.3 (27.9)	1.2 (34.2)	4.2 (39.6)	3.6 (38.5)	0.7 (33.3)	−4.6 (23.7)	−13.4 (7.9)	−16.3 (2.7)	−18.8 (−1.8)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	51.5 (2.03)	41.3 (1.63)	44.2 (1.74)	46.9 (1.85)	56.1 (2.21)	48.2 (1.90)	51.9 (2.04)	42.9 (1.69)	42.7 (1.68)	61.0 (2.40)	55.1 (2.17)	61.5 (2.42)	603.3 (23.75)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm)	10.5	9.3	8.9	9.0	9.1	8.1	7.2	7.0	7.2	10.2	10.4	11.3	108.2
Mean monthly sunshine hours	64.8	91.9	144.2	188.7	215.6	226.4	237.7	233.0	186.6	121.1	72.7	63.0	1,845.7
Source: Meteociel[8]

See also

• Communes of the Eure-et-Loir department