Chateau de Maulnes

The Mysterious Renaissance Pentagon Unique in France, and without any true equivalent in the world, the Château de Maulnes is a geometric marvel built between 1566 and 1573. Commissioned by Louise de Clermont and Antoine de Crussol, this Renaissance-style château is distinguished by its perfect pentagonal plan. A true mathematical feat for its time, it was designed by an architect who remains anonymous, although the name Sebastiano Serlio is often whispered. Its interior layout is a masterpiece of ingenuity: all the rooms are arranged around a central void housing a monumental spiral staircase and a well fed by three natural springs. Long left unfinished and saved from ruin by the Yonne Department in the late 1990s, the château now exudes a poetic and almost esoteric atmosphere. More than a simple hunting lodge, it seems to have been conceived as a "stone utopia" where the symbolism of numbers and light reigns supreme. Its clean facades and labyrinthine circulation make it a "distinguished" monument, offering a radically different visitor experience from the region's classic castles.