Jean II de Chambes bought the Montsoreau domain in 1450 and rebuilt the castle, and the article dates the reconstruction to 1450 to 1460. The style is Flamboyant Gothic, and his son Jean III added a Renaissance staircase after 1473. The château stands at the confluence of the Loire and Vienne rivers, where Anjou, Poitou and Touraine meet. It is built into the tufa bedrock at the foot of a hillside, directly in the Loire riverbed, and rises 148 feet (45 m).
The property fell into disrepair in the late 19th century, and the department bought it after 1913. Restoration ran from 1923 until World War II and again from 1997 to 2001.
The château opened to visitors on July 6, 2001. In 2016 it became the Museum of Contemporary Art, housing the Art & Language collection of Philippe Méaille. UNESCO listed it with the Loire Valley in 2000.
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