Montrichard

For the Napoleonic French general, see Joseph Hélie Désiré Perruquet de Montrichard.

Montrichard
The Cher River at Montrichard
Coat of arms
Montrichard
Location within Centre region Montrichard
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Centre-Val de Loire
Department	Loir-et-Cher
Arrondissement	Blois
Canton	Montrichard
Intercommunality	Cher à la Loire
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	Patrick Maupu
Area1	14.36 km2 (5.54 sq mi)
Population (1999)2	6,624
• Density	460/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	41151 / 41400
Elevation	59–134 m (194–440 ft) (avg. 68 m or 223 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Montrichard is a town and commune in the Loir-et-Cher département, in France.

Geography

The town lies on the north bank of the Cher River. 32 kilometres (20 mi) south of Blois, 73 kilometres (45 mi) west of Vierzon and 42 kilometres (26 mi) east of Tours. The countryside is mainly constituted of vineyard, woods, cattle and cereals.

Sites and monuments

• Château de Montrichard, a mediaeval castle.
• Nanteuil Church (12th, 13th, 15th centuries), whose statue of the Virgin Mary is the object of a very ancient pilgrimage on Whit Monday.
• Church of the Holy Cross (Église Ste-Croix) has a fine Romanesque doorway and was the site of Joan of France's marriage to the future king.
• Château de Pont-Cher, a 15th-century home built into the cliff, containing the René Galloux collection of prehistoric and Gallo-Roman artefacts from excavations in the Cher valley.

Notable people

• Joan of France, Duchess of Berry, married the future king of France Louis XII in Montrichard, though the marriage was later annulled.
• André Alerme, a French actor who appeared in more than 70 films, died here in 1960.
• Paulette Abagnale, mother of Frank Abagnale, con artist
• Eugénie Luce, French educator who lived and worked in Algiers, died in Montrichard in 1882.

Popular culture

The town is mentioned in the 2002 feature film Catch Me If You Can, as the town from which the mother of Frank Abagnale came. Later in the film, Abagnale has set up a high-end printing facility for printing corporate cheques in Montrichard when he is tracked down and arrested by the FBI.

References

• INSEE commune file