An enchantress places a powerful spell on the castle as punishment for the prince's arrogance and cruelty, turning the castle into a dark and mysterious fortress, eliminating its original beauty. After Belle's love for the Beast breaks the spell near the film's climax, the castle transforms back into its initial elegance and charm, along with the prince and his servants. It is located east of a provincial farming community.
There are sixty rooms in the castle altogether. The castle itself, according to Cogsworth, had utilized architecture dating back to the Baroque period (presumably Late Baroque period, since that was when France started adopting Baroque architecture). The castle is divided into two wings: the East Wing and the West Wing.
At the end of the East Wing is Belle's Room, and at the end of the West Wing is Beast's Room. The West Wing contains many broken items, while the East Wing is nicely furnished by comparison. There is also a secret door in the West Wing to the former room of Forte, the large pipe organ who did not want the spell to be broken.
In the beginning and very last scene of the film at least, there were also several stained glass windows depicting certain events of the curse. Presumably, these stained glass windows were added in some time after the curse was broken to depict the story to locals.
Places of interest[]
The Main Foyer: The first place is seen when the castle is entered. It is where a lost Maurice first encounters Cogsworth and Lumiere, and the starting point of all the film's adventures. Maurice is ignorant to the fact that a hideous beast lurks within the castle walls because the enchanted objects only refer to him as "the master".
The Den: This is where Maurice meets the other enchanted objects, including Mrs. Potts and Chip. All of the servants do their best to make him feel comfortable, except Cogsworth, who fears the master's anger when he finds out the castle shelters an uninvited guest. Cogsworth's fear manifests itself when an angered Beast bursts through the doors and approaches Maurice, scolding him of trespassing, and dragging him off to the dungeon where he provides him with "a place to stay". This is also the place where Belle nurses the Beast's wounds after rescuing her from the wolves in the woods. At first, he is reluctant to allow her to do this, but he realizes if he controls his temper as she suggests, he holds still and allows her to nurse his wounds, reminding them the treatment may sting a little.
The Prison Tower: This is where the Beast gives Maurice a "place to stay" after angered by his unwanted intrusion. The next day, Belle stumbles upon the same room and meets her father, unsuspectingly guided by Lumiere and Cogsworth, and offers the Beast her place as his prisoner in return for her father's freedom. The Beast agrees, and frees her father, without letting the two share their goodbyes. At first, the Beast plans for Belle to remain in the dungeon, but after seeing her distraught and experiencing a hint of sympathy, leads her to her room. In The Enchanted Christmas, Belle is sent to the dungeon again, this time both due to her earlier disobeying her stipulation of not leaving the castle premises (to get a Christmas tree), and partly due to Forte's influence, but she is released soon after.
The West Wing: This wing is meant for the Beast and his eyes alone. The access of all others is forbidden, specifically Belle, of which he gives her a stern warning upon her arrival, presumably to keep her out of trouble. However, Belle's curiosity and obstinacy soon gets the better of her, and she makes her way up an elegant flight of stairs and through a haunting corridor to the West Wing. Belle notices a shredded portrait of a young Prince, and soon sees the warm glow of the Beast's Enchanted Rose. Upon her attempt to stroke its soft petals, the Beast becomes aware of her presence and orders her to "Get out!". Belle's fear causes her to flee the castle in anger into the danger of the dark woods. Later, the Beast, after rescuing her, lets her back into the West Wing and shows her the Enchanted Mirror, allowing her to rescue Maurice, thus freeing her from her imprisonment in his castle. Although the Beast had forbid Belle from the West Wing, Belle can be seen going in in Belle's Magical World, and even the Beast doesn't seem angry about this.
The East Wing: Several locations are found here, but most noticeably Belle's bedroom, which is seen only once in the entire film. After Belle is shown to her room by the Beast, accompanied by an unnoticed Lumiere and ordered to attend dinner, she encounters Mrs. Potts, Chip, as well as the Wardrobe, the first enchanted objects.
Minor Dining Room: A comparatively smaller dining room that was located near windows, and was presumably positioned in close proximity to the ballroom. This was the area where Belle first taught Beast table manners, although with some evident difficulty due to Beast struggling to avoid "chowing down" on the porridge and how to eat via spoon. He was later seen in a similar dining room for dinner just prior to their first dance in the ballroom.
Major Dining Room: A sizeable dining room featuring a spacious fireplace. This is where the Beast is seen waiting for Belle to arrive and commence dinner, only to realize she refuses to attend. Belle is later treated to a "dinner and a show" at this location by the household objects, led by Lumiere, during the "Be Our Guest" sequence. According to the eleventh issue of Marvel Comics serial of Beauty and the Beast, this was known as the main Dining Room and was the site of a dinner party that the Countess de la Perle attended.
Private Gardens: The private gardens are only seen in the Special Edition of Beauty and the Beast, specifically during "Human Again." It features a large pool as well as several hedges and plant life. Apparently, treading on the grass is forbidden. The garden was maintained by the various servants, as they had regained hope of becoming human again due to Belle falling for the Beast, although the Wardrobe presumably caused more of a mess when she jumped into the pool.
The Library: The castle is home to a massive library compiled with endless books of all genres, although the Beast doesn't know how to read very well. According to Cogsworth and Lumiere, the library contained every book known to have been written at the time. The library is first mentioned by Lumiere in an attempt to divert Belle's desire to enter the West Wing. Of course, this plan fails. Lumiere later suggests to the Beast to present the library as a gift to Belle, because it "sparks her interest." The Beast later offers Belle the library as a "surprise", and their friendship further develops.
Belle and the Beast sharing their first dance during the iconic ballroom scene.
The Ballroom: One of the castle's most elegant and welcoming locations. It is large and majestic, and where Belle and the Beast share their first dance to Mrs. Potts singing "Beauty and the Beast". This is one of the most appreciated and recognized film locations because of the fact that it is where Belle and the Beast's friendship and developing romance is most noticeable. Upon the film's release, this scene was particularly praised for its pioneering use of computer technology to generate the ballroom's majestic appearance as the two protagonists dance through it. The Be Our Guest Restaurant is a reconfigured version of the ballroom. The main Christmas party was held at the ballroom during the beginning and end of The Enchanted Christmas (which took place after the curse was broken), while during the main story, it was used to hold the first Christmas celebration since the curse, complete with a fully decorated tree.
The Boiler Room: In Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, the castle is shown with a boiler room where Belle meets Axe who is the head of the boiler room and asks him for a Yule log. He tells her to help herself to any log she finds. When she finds the perfect log, the Beast finds her and demands what she's up to. Belle proceeds to tell the Beast that a Yule is a wonderful tradition in which a special log is chosen, then everyone in the house touches it and makes a Christmas wish. Beast retorts that wishes are stupid. To prove his point he asks her, "You made a Christmas wish last year. Is this what you wished for?!" Belle than answers no but that she'll keep wishing. After this, Beast shouts at her saying that she has no idea what it's like to be a true prisoner. Knowingly, and slightly sadly, she tells him that the only one holding her prisoner is him, and that she won't relent on bringing Christmas to the castle.
Greenhouse: In the Belle's Magical World episode, "Mrs. Potts' Party", the castle is shown with a fully-fitted Greenhouse, which is accessed directly from the castle. Here, Lumiere and Cogsworth's rivalry gets in the way again, over Mrs. Potts' favorite flowers.
A second one was built at Magic Kingdom for the Fantasyland expansion, as a forced perspective "bigature" built upon a cliff. It opened late 2012 and contains the Be Our Guest Restaurant with dining rooms in the Ballroom, the Dining Room and the West Wing.
The fourth and most recent miniature is at Tokyo Disneyland, built as part of its 2020 Fantasyland expansion. The first time the castle has been built to a human scale, it stands 108 feet tall and will contain the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast attraction.
The majority of the sculptures seen in the castle are earlier versions of the Beast’s character design.[1]
Belle's fun fact video on the Disney Princess YouTube channel, however, erroneously claimed that the gargoyles were derived from the gargoyles of Notre Dame de Paris.
In the 1989 screenplay for the film, the castle would have held a treasury filled with gold, just like in the original tale/1946 Jean Cocteau film. Beast would also have shown Belle the treasury.
The ceiling fresco in Rococo in the Castle's Ballroom is reminiscent of the one seen in the Wieskirche Church in Bavaria.
In the episode "The Perfect Word" of Belle's Magical World, it's revealed that, whilst the castle was essentially off-limits to outsiders, minimum contact and communication was maintained with the outside world, via correspondence (Witherspoon), as demonstrated with the Beast dictating a letter with an order for firewood to be delivered to the Castle. This is re-enforced in "Mrs. Potts' Party", where Cogsworth sends a letter to a friend to inquire about when the weather would change.
In the opening scene, the first stained glass window contains a banner underneath the prince that says "Vincit qui se Vincit," which is Latin for "He conquers who conquers himself."
According to materials attached to the Broadway adaptation, ("Disney's Beauty and the Beast: A Celebration of the Broadway Musical"), the Castle's interior features a combination of different architectural styles―gothic, baroque, rococo, and empire―"all coming together to make a castle that seems monumental in scale".
One of the concept artworks for the castle bears a resemblance to the palace of Versailles. It also resembles Chateau De Chambord.
