Castles in Occitanie
Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne
Since the pre-Roman period, a fortified settlement has existed on the hill where Carcassonne now stands. In its present form it is an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town, with its massive defences encircling the castle and the surrounding buildings, its streets and its fine Gothic cathedral. Carcassonne is also of exceptional importance because of the lengthy restoration campaign undertaken by Viollet-le-Duc, ...
Founded: 333 AD |
Location:
Carcassonne, France
Cháteau Comtal
The Château Comtal (Count’s Castle) is a medieval castle within the Cité of Carcassonne, the largest city in Europe with its city walls still intact. The Château Comtal has a strong claim to be called a 'Cathar Castle'. When the Catholic Crusader army arrived in 1209 they first attacked Raymond-Roger Trencavel's castrum at Bèziers and then moved on to his main stronghold at Carcassonne. The castle with rectangular ...
Founded: c. 1130 |
Location:
Carcassonne, France
Palais de la Berbie
The Musée Toulouse-Lautrec is an art museum in Albi. It is dedicated mainly to the work of the painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec who was born near Albi. The museum opened in 1922 and is located in the historic center of Albi, in the Palais de la Berbie, formerly the Bishops' Palace, an imposing fortress completed at the end of the 13th century. Older than the Palais des Papes in Avignon, the Palais de la Berbie, former ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Albi, France
Château Royal de Collioure
The Château Royal de Collioure is a massive French royal castle in the town of Collioure, a few kilometers north of the Spanish border. The Château is the juxtaposition of at least four castles. Roussillon was conquered by the Romans around 120 BC and then occupied by the Visigoths from 418. The first mention is about a fortified site in Collioure under siege in 673, by Wamba, king of the Visigoths who lay siege to the ...
Founded: 1207 |
Location:
Collioure, France
Duchy of Uzès Castle
The Duchy of Uzès castle is built on an old Roman Castrum (camp) which became the residence of the Governor in the first millennium. The architecture of the Duke"s chateau, named the Duchy is a potted history of France. The Middle-Ages, the Renaissance, the 17th century, and modern times are all there. Despite this, the ensemble is pleasing to the eye. During the difficult times of the Revolution the building ...
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Uzès, France
Fort Saint-André
The treaty of Meaux-Paris, signed in 1229 at the end of the Albigensian Crusade, handed the French crown land to the west of the Rhone from Pont-Saint-Esprit to the Mediterranean and a joint interest in the city of Avignon. In 1290 the French king, Philip IV, ceded his claim to Avignon to his father's cousin, Charles II of Naples who was the Count of Provence through his marriage to Beatrice of Provence. The Benedictine ...
Founded: |
Location:
Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, France
Château Fort de Lourdes
Besieged in 778 by Charlemagne, Château Fort de Lourdes became the residence of the Counts of Bigorre in the 11th and 12th centuries. In the 13th century, it passed into the possession of the Counts of Champagne, part of the kingdom of Navarre before coming under the crown of France under Philippe le Bel. It was ceded to the English by the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, before returning to France at the start of th ...
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Lourdes, France
Château de Peyrepertuse
Château de Peyrepertuse is a ruined fortress and one of the so-called Cathar castles located high in the French Pyrénées in the commune of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse. The view of the castle from Duilhac (to the south) is impressive thanks to the 30 to 40 meter cliff on which the Castle is perched. The main entrance is located on the north side, but in the time of the Cathars, a secret passage through a ...
Founded: 806 AD |
Location:
Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse, France
Château de Castelnou
From 990 AD, Château de Castelnou served as the administrative and military capital of the Viscount of Vallespir. Its irregular pentagonal plan follows the rocky outcrop on which it was built, this elevated position providing defence against enemy attacks. The castle was taken by the troops of James II of Majorca en 1286, and again in 1483. Largely demolished in 1559, it was no longer restored or inhabited and deteriora ...
Founded: 990 AD |
Location:
Castelnou, France
Château de Foix
The Château de Foix dominates the town of Foix. An important tourist site, it is known as a centre of the Cathars. Built on an older 7th-century fortification, the castle is known from 987. In 1002, it was mentioned in the will of Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, who bequeathed the fortress to his youngest child, Bernard. In effect, the family ruling over the region were installed here which allowed them to control access ...
Founded: 10th century |
Location:
Foix, France
Palace of the Kings of Majorca
The Palace of the Kings of Majorca is a palace and a fortress with gardens overlooking the city of Perpignan. In 1276, King James II of Majorca made Perpignan the capital of the Kingdom of Majorca. He started to build a palace with gardens on the hill on the south of the town. It was completed in 1309. In 1415, the Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund of Luxemburg, organised a European summit in Perpignan, to convince the Avign ...
Founded: 1276-1309 |
Location:
Perpignan, France
Château de Belcastel
The Château de Belcastel is situated above the north bank of the Aveyron River, downstream from Rodez. The oldest part of the castle was constructed in the 9th century, and it grew in the hands of the Belcastel family. Later, for many decades, it was the seat of the famed Saunhac family. The famous French architect Fernand Pouillon (1912-1986) discovered the castle in ruins in 1974. Pouillon decided to reconstruct the f ...
Founded: 9th century AD |
Location:
Belcastel, France
Salses Fortress
Forteresse de Salses was built between 1497 and 1504, at the order of Ferdinand II of Aragon. It was designed by engineer Francisco Ramiro Lopez, the king’s commander and artillery master, to block access to France from Roussillon. It was originally destined to replace a previous château, from which the town takes its name (Salses-le-Château). The earliest records of this château, situated on a neighbouring rocky out ...
Founded: 1497-1504 |
Location:
Salses-le-Château, France
Château d'Estaing
Château d'Estaing was built built around the medieval square keep in the 15th-17th centuries. The original chapel was built in the 15th century. The castle was the traditional home for counts of Estaing until 1794.
Founded: 15th century |
Location:
Estaing, France
Château de Sévérac
The Château de Sévérac is a 13th century castle which was restored in the 18th century. The castle site has belonged to several families: the Sévéracs, Armagnacs, and Arpajons. The latter built a Renaissance style castle whose south face can still be seen. Visitors today can see ramparts, walls, watch towers, the chapel and kitchen, in which demonstrations of medieval cooking are given. An exhibition of medieval cos ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Sévérac-d'Aveyron, France
Château de Quéribus
Château de Quéribus is a ruined castle in the commune of Cucugnan. It is one of the 'Five Sons of Carcassonne', along with Aguilar, Peyrepertuse, Termes and Puilaurens: five castles strategically placed to defend the French border against the Spanish, until the border was moved in 1659. Quéribus was first time mentioned in 1021 when it was one of the main Barcelonan strongholds north of the Pyrenees. It is sometimes ...
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Cucugnan, France
Château de Penne
The first reference to a castle in the village of Penne dates from 825 AD and its first known señor was Geoffroi, mentioned in 1096 in documents related to Raymond, Count of Toulouse. Throughout the Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) the site of Penne was of military strategic importance, being situated on the borders of the provinces of Albigeois, Quercy and Rouergue, with its fortress perched atop a cliff overlooking ...
Founded: 9th century AD |
Location:
Penne, France
Lastours Castles
The Châteaux de Lastours are four so-called Cathar castles on a rocky spur above the village of Lastours, isolated by the deep valleys of the Orbeil and Grésilhou rivers. These four castles constitute a single entity, even though they are not a single structure. The natural layout of the site permitted the economy of a fortress of great height. Plans were adapted to the rocks on which they were built. The con ...
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Lastours, France
Château de Beaucens
The Chateau of Beaucens is a former castle of the Viscounts of Lavedan dating mainly from the 14th century. The site was transformed into a zoo, the Keep of Eagles, where there are Birds of prey flying around the ruins of the castle with a view of the Gaves valley.
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Beaucens, France
Château de Lavardens
Château de Lavardens dominates the skyline of surrounding lands. Originally built in the 12th century, it was later a residence of Counts of Armagnac. The present massive structure dates from 1620 onwards and it was built on the ruins of medieval castle (destroyed by King"s soldiers in 1496).
Founded: 1620 |
Location:
Lavardens, France