The Château de Longwy is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

, incorporated into the town's fortifications, in the '' commune'' of

Longwy Longwy (; older , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. The inhabitants are known as ''Longoviciens''. In ...

in the

Meurthe-et-Moselle Meurthe-et-Moselle () is a '' département'' in the Grand Est region of France, named after the rivers Meurthe and Moselle. Its prefecture and largest city is Nancy and it borders the departments of Meuse to the west, Vosges to the south, ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of France.

History

Dating probably from the 11th century, the castle passed at the end of the 12th century from the possession of the Counts of Bar to the

Dukes of Lorraine The kings and dukes of Lorraine have held different posts under different governments over different regions, since its creation as the kingdom of Lotharingia by the Treaty of Prüm, in 855. The first rulers of the newly established region were ...

. The Bars regained it in 1292 and held it until its destruction, making it the northernmost stronghold of their lands. It was taken by the French in 1646 and destroyed in 1672, at the same time as the rest of the town's fortifications, to permit the future construction of Longwy's stronghold. All that is left are remains of a tower which had probably been reconstructed in the 15th century (possibly the ''tour de'' (tower of) ''Malcouvert'' or ''Maucouvert'' mentioned in 16th century texts) situated at the extreme north of the site. The castle comprised 11 towers, a

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

and two gates. It was constructed from

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. Longwy: Château Fort The remains of the castle and the 17th century fortifications designed by Vauban Longwy: Enceinte fortifiée are listed as a ''

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

References

Châteaux in Meurthe-et-Moselle Monuments historiques of Meurthe-et-Moselle Ruined castles in Grand Est {{France-castle-stub fr:Longwy#Lieux et monuments

History

See also

References