En un regard
Le château en bref
Château d'Aguilar stands on a hill about two kilometres east of Tuchan, in the Corbières, in the Aude department. It is classed among the so-called "Cathar" castles. The site is mentioned as early as 1020, after which it passed into the possession of the Termes family. Olivier de Termes, deprived of his castle of Termes in 1228, made Aguilar his residence; he submitted to Louis IX in 1241, recovered it in 1250 following his services in the Holy Land, and then ceded it to the Crown in 1262. Having become a royal fortress on the frontier with Aragon, the stronghold was reinforced by the king's engineers and kept a garrison until the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659, after which it fell into decay. Without a keep, the complex combines an outer enclosure in an irregular hexagon, flanked by six semicircular towers and defended by a barbican, and an inner enclosure with lodgings and a square tower containing a cistern. The chapel of Sainte-Anne, mentioned in 1262, retains its barrel vault. Listed as a monument historique in 1949, the ruins are open to visitors and form part of the royal fortresses of Languedoc.
