The Château d'Ussé was built between Tours and Chinon on a hillside overlooking the Indre River. At its core medieval ruins can be found, as well as wings reconstructed during the 15th and the late 16th centuries. The site was significantly modified in the 19th century.

In 1521 in his will the Lord of Ussé, Jacques d'Espinay, former chamberlain of Charles VIII, Louis XII and butler to Anne of Brittany, arranged for a collegiate church to be built near his château. On his death he wanted to be buried there with his wife. Their son Charles d'Espinay initiated construction work within the confines of the château in 1522. It was their grandson, René, who would found a chapter of six canons in 1538, furnish the interior and have the building consecrated in 1539.

The collegiate church was part of a series of such foundations, which were fashionable around 1520. It was built to a simple design: a single nave with a polygonal apse. On the south side the sacristy and on the north side a stately chapel completed the whole. Its façade follows the model established by the collegiate church of Thouars. It is dominated by a large Gothic-style central arch, which increases the monumental effect and accentuates the vertical focus of the building. It is in the details that the new style can be discerned. The portal is framed by superposed pilasters, columns and candelabras, and features Italianate style motifs: in place of the traditional medallions with Antiquity-inspired profiles, the busts of Christ's apostles can be found, as well as an arched pediment decorated with a large shell. The work is of exceptional quality.

In the interior, the fine ribbing of Gothic vaults rests on capitals with motifs of foliage, cornucopias of abundance and putti. Between the nave and the choir, a wooden rood screen is used to demarcate areas for canons and lords. Its abundant ornamentation, like that of the stalls (after 1538) and some of the stained-glass windows, was designed with Italian inspiration. The sacristy door and tabernacle door received architectural framing richly decorated in the new "Antiquity-inspired" style. The sacristy door echoes the central motif of the main entrance. The marble baptismal font is from the same era.