Comprehensive 3D modeling of the Château de Chenonceau and its outbuildings

In 2023, the Château de Chenonceau engaged the architectural agency Kedros (Etienne Barthélémy, Chief Architect for Historic Monuments) on a Project Management Assistance (AMO) mission. The initial phase focused on a fire safety audit and a number of structural assessments. As no up-to-date plans were available, and given the complexity of the site, Etienne Barthélémy proposed entrusting Geokali with the comprehensive 3D digitisation of the château and its outbuildings.

Geokali digitised the entire château — interior, exterior, and attic spaces — along with the Marques Tower, the Domes Wing, the gardens of Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de’ Medici, the moats, and all outbuildings of the 16th-century farm. The 3D models enabled the production of high-quality plans. Made available through a web platform, the models serve as a shared workspace for all project teams. They help the château’s staff deepen their understanding of the site, and support the planning and coordination of craftsmen’s interventions — particularly in hard-to-access areas. It provides an essential resource for managing the safety of France’s second-most-visited château, supporting staff training and emergency response planning.

In the future, as interpretation and mediation tools, the 3D models will be used to reveal areas normally closed to the public — such as the remarkable crypt, the chapel’s attic, or the third-floor convent with its internal drawbridge. They will make the entire site accessible to visitors with reduced mobility and will provide researchers with an exceptionally reliable digital archive.

The full 3D acquisition campaign — including the château, gardens, outbuildings, and riverbanks — required over 240 cumulative working days, involving up to six operators on site, 265,000 HD images, and 5,500 scan stations. The resulting models reached millimetric accuracy, with texture resolution up to 1.5 mm per pixel for the château.