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Gironde, land of châteaux

From fortresses to bourgeois residences, Gironde has seen castle art and architecture pursue its development over the centuries. Whether their purpose was to ward off the enemy, bestow status or conceal guilty love affairs, Gironde’s châteaux all have one thing in common - the pale gol...
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From fortresses to bourgeois residences, Gironde has seen castle art and architecture pursue its development over the centuries. Whether their purpose was to ward off the enemy, bestow status or conceal guilty love affairs, Gironde’s châteaux all have one thing in common - the pale golden stone that gives them their unique majesty even in ruins, in the image of Château de Rauzan.
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Fortunately, most of Gironde’s châteaux are still intact, preserved from the ravages of time by major restoration work.

In the 18th  century, architects adopted the so-called classical style. It was no longer a matter of protecting oneself but rather of aesthetics, as is born ample witness to by the Châteaux Beychevelle, de Malle and de Mongenan, as well as Chateau du Bouilh with its superb neoclassical facade.

Montesquieu and Mauriac – both of them “Girondin” by birth and by nature – found refuge in their respective châteaux, Château de La Brède, where part of “L’Esprit des Lois” was written, and Château de Malagar, a magnificent mansion overlooking the Garonne Valley, while the painter Toulouse-Lautrec came to take breaks from his Parisian escapades at Château de Malromé near Saint-André-du-Bois. He lived out the end of his life there and was buried nearby, in the Verdelais cemetery.

- Château de Villandraut is a fine example of Gironde’s defensive architecture in the 14th  century, troubled years marked by the Hundred Years’ War.

Château de Roquetaillade
CDT 33 - Hubert Sion

A genuine fortified palace built by Bertrand de Got (Pope Clement V) and which housed the papal court in 1308/1309, the château was to serve as a model for other fortresses in the Bazas region, one of the most remarkable being Roquetaillade in Mazères.

- Built in 1310, Château de Roquetaillade is the very archetype of the medieval castle as it is depicted in history books and children’s stories. It is made up of two 12th  - and 14th  -century castles, both within the same encircling wall. Its history was marked by two major restorations, including one particularly remarkable project carried out by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th  century.

- Property of the Kings of Navarre, Château de Cazeneuve in Préchac was the royal residence of King Henri IV and Queen Margot. Renaissance in style, it boasts magnificent royal apartments with period furniture to match, along with large underground cellars and troglodytic caves.

- Gironde’s Fontainebleau, Château des Ducs d’Epernon, is in Cadillac. Louis XIII and Louis XIV both stayed there. The château is of mediaeval origin and was remodelled several times before settling for a typically 17th  -century architecture of pomp and circumstance, with wainscoted ceilings, wooden flooring composed of different varieties of wood, and multicoloured marble paving stones.

 

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