The Tour de Crest (Crest Tower) is the imposing vestige of a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

- the Château de Crest - in the ''

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

'' of

Crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

in the

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

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

'' of France, one of the highest

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') 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 c ...

s in Europe, if not the highest (52 metres/171 feet).

History

In 1120, a letter from

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Calixte II was sent from the Château de Crest (« ''Castrum Cristam'' »). It was at about this time that, around the foot of the tower, a medieval town was developing bearing the name of the master of the area, Lord

Arnaud de Crest Arnaud may refer to: People * Arnaud (given name) or Arnauld (formerly Arnoul), the French form of the German given name Arnold * Arnaud (surname) or Arnauld (formerly Arnoul), the French form of the name Arnold * Arnauld family, a noble French f ...

. In 1394, the Château de Crest had a grand square tower built of dressed stone.

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

, on the orders of

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

, destroyed the castle leaving only the massive tower which today dominates the town of Crest. The upper floors of the keep, originally defensive in purpose, were transformed into a prison and remained thus until 1873. The walls are covered with inscriptions by exiles from the

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

. The Tour de Crest was classified as a ''

monument historique ''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 coll ...

'' on 6 June 1877. It has belonged, since 1988, to the town, which has allowed tourists to visit it. Image:France_Drome_Crest_1.jpg, Tour de Crest Image:France_Drome_Crest_2.jpg, The town and the keep

References

* Anne & Fabian Da Costa, ''Châteaux de la Drôme'', Ed. La Taillanderie, 2000, 64 p. ()

External links

Bibliography

* Claude Huot, Jean-Claude Alcamo - "La tour de Crest : évolution architecturale et fonctionnelle" - pp. 69–90, dans ''Congrès archéologique de France - Moyenne vallée du Rhône - 150^e session - 1992'' - Société Française d'Archéologie - 1995 Castles in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Monuments historiques of Drôme Museums in Drôme History museums in France {{france-castle-stub

History

See also

References

External links

Bibliography