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

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 ...

located in

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; ) 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 its Château fort, a ...

in the

Hautes-Pyrénées Hautes-Pyrénées (; Gascon/ Occitan: ''Nauts Pirenèus / Hauts Pirenèus'' awts piɾeˈnɛʊs ; alts piɾiˈneʊs ) is a department in the region of Occitania, southwestern France. The department is bordered by Pyrénées-Atlantiques to t ...

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. It is strategically placed at the entrance to the seven valleys of the Lavedan. Since 1933, it has been 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 ...

. Château fort

History

Besieged in 778 by

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

, it became the residence of the

Counts of Bigorre The County of Bigorre was a small feudatory of the Duchy of Gascony in the 9th through 15th centuries. Its capital was Tarbes. The county was constituted out of the dowry of Faquilène, an Aquitainian princess, for her husband Donatus Lupus I, ...

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 of Champagne, Hugh I was the first to officially use the title count of Champagn ...

, part of the kingdom of

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

before coming under the crown of France under

Philippe le Bel Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre and Count of Champagne as Philip I from 1 ...

. It was ceded to the English by the

Treaty of Brétigny A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, conventio ...

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 then a state prison after the French Revolution. It continued 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, which however destructed 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 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 again in the 17th and 19th centuries. From 1590, under the reign of

Henri IV Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...

, the castle became a prison. It was later used as a barracks, before becoming a museum around the turn of the 20th century. 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 are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union wit ...

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 arou ...

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) History museums in France Lourdes Monuments historiques of Hautes-Pyrénées Buildings and structures in Hautes-Pyrénées Museums in Occitania (administrative region)

History

Description

Photographic gallery

See also

References and sources

External links