Chateaux of Bouches-du-Rhône

Château des Baux

The Château des Baux is a fortified castle built during the 10th century, located in Les Baux-de-Provence. Although already inhabited in the Bronze Age, Les Baux-de-Provence did not really start growing until the medieval period. Built in the 10th century, the fortress and the small town it protects were ruled by the lords of Baux for five hundred years, in the thick of the ceaseless conflicts that ravaged Provenc ...
Founded: 10th century AD | Location: Les Baux-de-Provence, France

Château de l'Empéri

The Château de l"Empéri is a 9th-century castle built on the rock of Puech which dominates the immense plain of Crau in the commune of Salon-de-Provence. The castle was the residence of the archbishops of Arles as well as the Holy Roman emperors. It is from the latter that the castle derives its name of the Empire which at this time included the East bank of the Rhône River. During 1481, at the time ...
Founded: 9th century AD | Location: Salon-de-Provence, France

Château de Tarascon

The Château de Tarascon is in a remarkable state of conservation, thanks to the restoration work carried out by the architects of the historical monuments. It is one of the most magnificent medieval castles in France. Built at the beginning of the 15th century on a rocky islet, this monument is made up of two distinct parts: to the north, a farmyard dedicated to the staff and soldiers, and to the south, the dwelling. Its ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Tarascon, France

Château Borély

The Château Borély is a chateau in the southern part of Marseille. The chateau was built in the eighteenth century for Louis Borély (1692-1768), a rich merchant of Marseille. It was donated to the city in the nineteenth century. For several years it hosted the archaeological museum. The chateau is located in the current Parc Borély. Closed to the public, restored, then reopened in 2013, Château Borély has a rich ...
Founded: 1767-1778 | Location: Marseille, France

Château de Châteaurenard

The construction of the Château de Châteaurenard was started in 1170 by Seigneur Reynardus and the castle was also named after him. The castle was modified and enlarged in the 12th and 15th centuries. In 1596 Henry IV of France ordered to demolish the castle. The ruins were damaged more in 1790 during the French Revolution. The restoration was made in the 20th century. Today the castle hosts a museum of local history.
Founded: 1170 | Location: Châteaurenard, France

Château de Vernègues

The village of Vernègues developed in the 8th century when, according to ancient maps, there were two hill top fortifications, the Castrum de Avallone and the Castrum Alvernicum. The latter, constructed on a rocky escarpment, became Vernègues and its medieval castle. On the evening of 11 June 1909, the Lambesc earthquake (magnitude 6 on the Richter scale) shook the region and destroyed practically all of the castle and ...
Founded: 8th century AD | Location: Vernègues, France

Château de Boulbon

Château de Boulbon was documented first time in 1003 and the current walls remain from the 13th-15th centuries. Today it lies in ruins.
Founded: 13th century | Location: Boulbon, France

Château de Cabriès

The Château de Cabriès is an historic castle in Cabriès, Bouches-du-Rhône. The castle was built in the 8th century. In 1237, Anselme Férus sold it to Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence. It was restored in the 18th century, with French windows added. In 1934, the northern aisle was acquired by painter Edgar Mélik, who painted its walls. It now houses a museum named after him.
Founded: 8th century AD | Location: Cabriès, France

Château Pastré

The Château Pastré, formerly known as the Chateau de Montredon, is a nineteenth-century building in the suburb of Montredon to the south of Marseille, France. Eugène Pastré (1806–1868) and his wife Céline de Beaulincourt-Marle (1825-1900) belonged to a wealthy family of Marseille shipowners and merchants. Between 1836 and 1853 the Pastré family accumulated 120 hectares (300 acres) of land between Pointe Rouge and ...
Founded: 1862 | Location: Marseille, France

Château of Vauvenargues

The Château of Vauvenargues is a fortified bastide in the village of Vauvenargues, just outside the town of Aix-en-Provence. Built on a site occupied since Roman times, it became a seat of the Counts of Provence in the Middle Ages, passing to the Archbishops of Aix in the 13th century. It acquired its present architectural form in the 17th century as the family home of the marquis de Vauvenargues. After the French revol ...
Founded: 17th century | Location: Vauvenargues, France

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Monte d'Accoddi

Monte d"Accoddi is a Neolithic archaeological site in northern Sardinia, located in the territory of Sassari. The site consists of a massive raised stone platform thought to have been an altar. It was constructed by the Ozieri culture or earlier, with the oldest parts dated to around 4,000–3,650 BC.

The site was discovered in 1954 in a field owned by the Segni family. No chambers or entrances to the mound have been found, leading to the presumption it was an altar, a temple or a step pyramid. It may have also served an observational function, as its square plan is coordinated with the cardinal points of the compass.

The initial Ozieri structure was abandoned or destroyed around 3000 BC, with traces of fire found in the archeological evidence. Around 2800 BC the remains of the original structure were completely covered with a layered mixture of earth and stone, and large blocks of limestone were then applied to establish a second platform, truncated by a step pyramid (36 m × 29 m, about 10 m in height), accessible by means of a second ramp, 42 m long, built over the older one. This second temple resembles contemporary Mesopotamian ziggurats, and is attributed to the Abealzu-Filigosa culture.

Archeological excavations from the chalcolithic Abealzu-Filigosa layers indicate the Monte d"Accoddi was used for animal sacrifice, with the remains of sheep, cattle, and swine recovered in near equal proportions. It is among the earliest known sacrificial sites in Western Europe.

The site appears to have been abandoned again around 1800 BC, at the onset of the Nuragic age.

The monument was partially reconstructed during the 1980s. It is open to the public and accessible by the old route of SS131 highway, near the hamlet of Ottava. It is 14,9 km from Sassari and 45 km from Alghero. There is no public transportation to the site. The opening times vary throughout the year.