The Château de Commarque is a hillside castle located between Sarlat and Les Eyzies, in the commune of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil in the Dordogne département, southern France. It stands on a rocky outcrop in the valley of the river La Beune in the Vezere valley region.
History
The castle was founded during the 12th century, or possibly slightly prior to it, upon the request of the abbots of Sarlat. At this time the Château de Commarque was only a wooden tower, and its primary concerns were to discourage the ambitions of the Beynac family and to ensure the safety of the valley. It was placed at the crossing of two important commercial roads: the road from Périgueux to Cahors and the road from Brive-la-Gaillarde to Bergerac.
After the Beynac family took the control of the castle, the wooden tower was replaced by a stone keep. The fortification was enhanced, and the keep was gradually heightened until the 18th century. The Beynacs, lords of the area, dwelt in the keep.
During the Hundred Years' War, it was captured by the English who held the place for several years.
Later during the French Wars of Religion, the castle was taken by the Catholics, due to the Beynacs being Protestant partisans.
There is a prehistoric cave under the castle.
Restoration
The castle has been undergoing restoration since 1994. It has been listed since 1943 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Commarque

Account

by category

Login

Name

by region

Title

Name in English

The Château de Puymartin is a castle in the commune of Marquay, in the Dordogne département of France, located between Sarlat (8 km) and Les Eyzies (11 km).
History
The castle was built during the 13th century. It was taken by the English in 1357. The consuls of Sarlat bought the domaine back from the English but then abandoned the castle.
Radulphe de Saint-Clar re-purchased it in 1450 and enlarged it.
During the 16th century, Raymond de Saint-Clar defeated the Protestants during the French Wars of Religion. Under the name of Capitaine de Puymartin, he expelled the Huguenots from Sarlat.
During the 18th century, Jean de Saint-Clar contended with his sister Suzanne for possession of the castle. Suzanne won and kept Puymartin. The castle was finally abandoned during the 18th century.
During the 19th century, the marquis of Carbonnier de Marzac restored the castle in a neo-gothic style.
Château de Puymartin is listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Puymartin

The Château de Losse and its gardens have been listed as French Historical House and Site since 1928. They are located in Périgord, Dordogne district, South-West of France, near the Lascaux pre-historic caves, on the Vézère river.
The medieval fortress overlooks the Vézère river. In 1575 a Renaissance Hall was built within the stronghold. It is enclosed by curtain walls and surrounded by a deep ditch. Inside the décor and the period furnishings bear witness to the grand lifestyle of the Marquess Jean II de Losse in the 16th century.
History
The Losse family came from Flanders in the 11th century and subsequently built a stronghold on the right bank of the Vézère . From that time they belonged to the feudal hierarchy. Later on their allegiance went to the king of France.
The Hall was built in 1576 inside the medieval fortress by Jean II Marquis de Losse.
A great soldier, his loyalty to the Crown was the source of his military and social good fortune. He was page to François I, served all the sons of Catherine de' Medici and was tutor to Henri IV. As a courtier he saw the prevalent Renaissance criteria used in contemporary buildings in Paris and elsewhere. At the end of his career he returned to Périgord as General governor of Limousin and Guyenne. The changes he then made to his ancestral home were in accordance with the taste of the times, while retaining a country-like sobriety. Since, however, the religious wars still raged, he put his great experience in defending royal places against the Imperial troops to improving the defensive apparel of the castle for the use of firearms (e.g. muskets and canons). This can be seen from the various openings in the curtain walls and the barbican.
He was a contemporary of Montaigne and also wished to leave a motto that echoed his life . These were engraved in different places of the castle. Over the entrance can be read : « Man does as he may, Fortune (fate) as she will »
The Castle
Such as we see it today it has remained unaltered since the 16th century, save for the wear of time. It was therefore listed as an Historical Monument in 1928.
Its sole access is by the bridge over the moat and through a fortified gatehouse (the largest of its kind in France).
In the courtyard, the façade of the Hall (1576) is an example of Renaissance architecture. Its characteristic features are carved in the golden stone of Périgord.
On the riverside the grandiose terrace built on the cliff offers a view down the Vézère valley.
The grand staircase with stone ornaments leads to rooms with sculpted mantelpieces.
The Gardens
In the hornbeam ‘green chambers’ as they were designed in the 17th century, the labyrinthine walk windows open onto the castle and the flower beds. Upon reaching the river the balcony, dating back to the 16th century, allows a view downstream.

Château de Losse

The park surrounding Château de Campagne, in the Dordogne-Périgord  just off Le Bugue on the road to Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, Lascaux and Sarlat, has been redesigned in the style of English-inspired 19th-century gardens (with a green corridor, natural water feature, winding path and vegetable path). The centuries-old sequoias and oaks make it the perfect setting for a bucolic stroll, as do the conservatory orchard, arboretum and restored Chemin des Dames stairway, with 139 steps and 22 metres of height, fully decorated with lanterns. Ideal for an evening concert in the summer, this is also the departure point for the Campagne woodlands, where you may hike for free any day of the year. The castle is no longer open to tours, but temporary exhibitions are held here. The full property - including its outhouses, park and enclosure - has been listed as a Historical Building since 5 April 2001.
http://www.lascaux-dordogne.com/en/patrimoine-culturel/park-and-garden-chateau/parc-du-chateau-de-campagne

Château de Campagne

Le château de Monrecour, ou de Monrecours, est une demeure néo-Renaissance française du département de la Dordogne, en région Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
Localisation
Le château de Monrecour (ou de Monrecours) est situé en Périgord noir, dans le quart sud-est du département de la Dordogne, sur la commune de Saint-Vincent-de-Cosse, dans la plaine alluviale de la Dordogne, une centaine de mètres au nord de la route départementale 703.
Il fait partie de l'ensemble dit de la « vallée des six châteaux », entre Vézac et Saint-Cyprien, avec les châteaux de Marqueyssac, Castelnaud, Fayrac, les Milandes et Beynac.
Histoire et architecture
Le château a été la propriété successive des familles Secrestat, David et Escande.
De style néo-Renaissance, il recèle un remarquable mobilier dont des boiseries du xviie siècle provenant de la chartreuse de Vauclaire.
Il se compose d'un logis orienté est-ouest encadré à l'est par deux tours carrées, le tout éclairé par des fenêtres à meneaux.
Il a été aménagé en hôtellerie, restaurant et gites.

Château de Monrecours

The Château de Beynac is a castle situated in the commune of Beynac-et-Cazenac, in the Dordogne département of France. The castle is one of the best-preserved and best known in the region.
This Middle Ages construction, with its austere appearance, is perched on top of a limestone cliff, dominating the town and the north bank of the Dordogne River.
History
The castle was built in the 12th century by the barons of Beynac (one of the four baronies of Périgord) to close the valley. The sheer cliff face being sufficient to discourage any assault from that side, the defences were built up on the plateau: double crenellated walls, double moats, one of which was a deepened natural ravine, double barbican.
The oldest part of the castle is a large, square-shaped, Romanesque keep with vertical sides and few openings, held together with attached watch towers and equipped with a narrow spiral staircase terminating on a crenellated terrace. To one side, a residence of the same period is attached; it was remodelled and enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries. On the other side is a partly 14th century residence side-by-side with a courtyard and a square plan staircase serving the 17th century apartments. The apartments have kept their woodwork and a painted ceiling from the 17th century. The Salle des États (States' Hall) has a Renaissance sculptured fireplace and leads into a small oratory entirely covered with 15th century frescoes, included a Pietà, a Saint Christopher, and a Last Supper in which Saint Martial (first bishop of Limoges) is the maître d'hôtel.
At the time of the Hundred Years' War, the fortress at Beynac was in French hands. The Dordogne was the border between France and England. Not far away, on the opposite bank of the river, the Château de Castelnaud was held by the English. The Dordogne region was the theatre of numerous struggles for influence, rivalries and occasionally battles between the English and French supporters. However, the castles fell more often through ruse and intrigue rather than by direct assault, because the armies needed to take these castles were extremely costly: only the richest nobles and kings could build and maintain them.
The castle was bought in 1962 by Lucien Grosso who has restored it.
Visitors to the castle can see sumptuous tapestries showing hunting and other scenes from the lives of the lords of the period.
The Château de Beynac has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1944.
Film location
The castle has been a location for several films:
Le Capitan, known as Captain Blood in English (directed by André Hunebelle, 1960)
Gaston Phébus (TV mini-series, 1978)
Elle voit des nains partout ! (directed by Jean-Claude Sussfeld, 1982)
Les Visiteurs (directed by Jean-Marie Poiré, 1993)
La Fille de d'Artagnan, known as Revenge of the Musketeers in English (directed by Bertrand Tavernier, 1994). The kitchen table in the picture below was used by Sophie Marceau, as Éloïse d'Artagnan, against her attackers.
Les Couloirs du temps : Les Visiteurs 2, known as The Visitors II: The Corridors of Time in English (directed by Jean-Marie Poiré, filmed around March 1997
Ever After (directed by Andy Tennant, 1998)
Jeanne d'Arc, known as The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc in English (directed by Luc Besson, 1999)
Chocolat (directed by Lasse Hallström, 2000) filmed in the village of Beynac
Fanfan la Tulipe (directed by Gérard Krawczyk, 2003)

Château de Beynac

Château de Fayrac is a French home of the fifteenth, sixteenth and nineteenth centuries built at the edge of the Dordogne, in the municipality of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in the Dordogne. Fayrac name appears in an inventory of church property in the thirteenth century. It is then a modest stronghold that left the actual castle that vaulted cellars and a round tower. The name is then written Afayrac or Affeyrac. The castle was then owned by the composer Fernand FOUANT of Tombelle, a founder of the Schola Cantorum, which was heavily restored. André Malraux lies a few weeks at the castle when he joined the Resistance after the arrest of his brothers after March 1944. Just like its illustrious neighbors, Beynac, Castelnaud, Milandes and Marqueyssac, it is part of the tourist complex called the "valley of the six castles." The castle is the subject of a registration as a historic monument since March 31, 1928. Private property, it is not open to the public.
http://www.frenchchateau.net/chateaux-of-aquitaine/chateau-de-fayrac.html

Château de Fayrac

The Château des Milandes is a manor house in the commune of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in the Dordogne département of France. Built by Francois de Caumont around 1489, it was, until 1535, the main house of the lords of Caumont, who preferred to live in this manor house instead of the large, uncomfortable medieval castle of Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.
In 1940, the entertainer Josephine Baker rented the château and then bought it in 1947.
It has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1986.

Château des Milandes

The Château de Marqueyssac is a 17th-century château and gardens located at Vézac, in the Dordogne Department of France. The château was built at the end of the 17th century by Bertrand Vernet de Marqueyssac, Counselor to Louis XIV, on cliffs overlooking the Dordogne Valley. The original garden à la française was attributed to a pupil of André Le Nôtre, and featured terraces, alleys, and a kitchen garden surrounding the chateau.
History
Between 1830 and 1840, Julien Bessières constructed a chapel and a grand alley one hundred meters long for horseback rides.
In the 1860s, the new owner, Julien de Cervel, began to plant thousands of boxwood trees - today there are over 150,000 - and had them carved in fantastic shapes, many in groups of rounded shapes like flocks of sheep. He also added linden trees, cypress trees, and stone pine from Italy, and introduced the cyclamen from Naples. Following the romantic style, he built rustic structures, redesigned the parterres, and laid out five kilometers of walks.
In the second half 20th century the house was rarely occupied and the gardens were not well maintained. Beginning in 1996, a new owner, Kleber Rossillon, restored the gardens to their old character and added some new features including an alley of santolina and rosemary and, in the romantic spirit of the 19th century, a course of water descending from the belvedere and ending in a cascade. The gardens were opened to the public in 1996.
Since 1997, the gardens have been classified amongst the Notable Gardens of France by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Marqueyssac

The Château de Castelnaud is a medieval fortress in the commune of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, overlooking the Dordogne River in Périgord, southern France. It was erected to face its rival, the Château de Beynac.
History
The oldest documents mentioning it date to the 13th century, when it figured in the Albigensian Crusade; its Cathar castellan was Bernard de Casnac. Simon de Montfort took the castle and installed a garrison; when it was retaken by Bernard, he hanged them all. During the Hundred Years' War, the castellans of Castelnaud owed their allegiance to the Plantagenets, the sieurs de Beynac across the river, to the king of France. In later times it was abandoned bit by bit, until by the French Revolution it was a ruin.
The château today
Today the picturesquely restored castle, a private property open to the public, houses a much-visited museum of medieval warfare, featuring reconstructions of siege engines, mangonneaux, and trebuchets. The castle is listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Castelnaud

The Château de Montfort is a castle in the French commune of Vitrac in the Dordogne département, part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
The castle clings to a promontory overlooking the Cingle de Montfort (Montfort Meander) on the Dordogne River. Its grandiose setting "aroused the envy of those who wished to rule Périgord" so that its history is a long series of battles and sieges. It was taken and razed to the ground by Simon de Montfort in 1214. The castle was later rebuilt, but again destroyed another three times: during the Hundred Years' War, under Louis XI of France and on the instructions of Henri IV of France.
Renovation work was carried out in the 19th century and gives the castle a "whimsical look of a stage setting for light opera."