The château fort de Lourdes ( Gascon: ''Castèth de Lorda'') is a historic castle located in

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Châ ...

in the Hautes-Pyrénées ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

'' of France. It is strategically placed at the entrance to the seven valleys of the

Lavedan The Lavedan (; in Gascon eth/lo Lavedan, /et/lu laβedã/), or occasionally vallées des Gaves, denotes a mountainous natural region of France, located at the heart of the Pyrénées, and forms a group of valleys upstream of Lourdes. The Lavedan ...

. Since 1933, it has been listed as a '' monument historique'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visua ...

. Château fort

History

Besieged in 778 by

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

, it 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 The count of Champagne was the ruler of the County of Champagne from 950 to 1316. Champagne evolved from the County of Troyes in the late eleventh century and Hugh I was the first to officially use the title count of Champagne. Count Theobald ...

, 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 The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty, drafted on 8 May 1360 and ratified on 24 October 1360, between Kings Edward III of England and John II of France. In retrospect, it is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years ...

in 1360, before returning to France at the start of the 15th century after two sieges. In the 17th century, the castle became a royal prison, and a state prison after the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, continuing in this role until the start of the 20th century when it became the Pyrenean Museum (''Musée Pyrénéen'') (1921) which it remains

Description

The castle's origins go back to Roman times. Various remains from this era (fragments of sculpture, votive offerings, wall foundations) were brought to light by military engineering work in the 19th century. However, a consequence of these works was the destruction of the greater part of the ancient walls. The finds are exhibited on the site. Today, the oldest remains date from the 11th and 12th centuries and consist of the foundations of the present fortifications. The castle was reinforced in the 13th and 14th centuries (construction of the keep), and again in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Notre-Dame-du-Château chapel houses the furniture of the former parish church of Saint-Pierre de Lourdes, destroyed in 1904. The present chapel is constructed with recycled material from Saint-Pierre de Lourdes.

Photographic gallery

File:Vue de Lourdes (Hautes-Pyrénées) - Fonds Ancely - B315556101 A MALBOS 2 005.jpg, Castle in 1843, by

Eugène de Malbos Eugène de Malbos (21 August 1811 – 29 May 1858) was a French Romantic painter known for his lithographs of the Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is ...

File:Chateau lourdes.jpg, View from the west File:Lourdes Chateau Donjon.jpg, The keep File:Chateau lourdes nuit.jpg, Illuminated at night File:Chateau Fort in Lourdes, France.jpg, Castle (east face with the clock) File:Château fort de Lourdes.JPG, With the Pyrenees in the background File:The city and the castle, Lourdes, Pyrenees, France-LCCN2001698644.jpg, The castle standing over the town (photo taken between 1890 and 1900) File:Castle from terrace of Notre Dame de Lourdes, Lourdes, Pyrenees, France-LCCN2001698646.jpg, View from the terrace of

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes () is a Catholic Marian shrine and pilgrimage site dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France. The sanctuary includes several religious buildings and monuments around ...

File:Castle and river, Lourdes, Pyrenees, France-LCCN2001698645.jpg, Castle and river

References and sources

* ''Lourdes de la Préhistoire à nos jours'', Musée Pyrénéen, 1987.

External links

Chateau Fort - Musée Pyrénéen
- official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Lourdes, Chateau Fort De Castles in Hautes-Pyrénées Historic house museums in Occitania (administrative region) Museums in Hautes-Pyrénées Lourdes History museums in France Monuments historiques of Occitania (administrative region)

History

Description

Photographic gallery

See also

References and sources

External links