Château de Saint-Germain

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de Saint-Germain, probably built at the end of the 12th century or the very beginning of the 13th century by the lords of Coligny (its existence is attested as early as 1141 and 1151), stands in the commune of Ambérieu-en-Bugey in the Ain. It passed to the lords of La Tour du Pin (1210), to the Dauphins of Viennois (1282), to the Counts of Savoy (1321), including Philip I and Amadeus V, who fortified it during the conflicts of the 13th–14th centuries, and then to the kings of France (1601). The fortress comprised two enclosures, an upper and a lower one, the latter flanked by two semicircular towers, a pointed-arch gateway, horseshoe-shaped towers open at the gorge, and a keep measuring about 10 x 11 metres with walls 2 metres thick. Now in ruins, it retains the pointed-arch gateway, the south-west bastion, the great wall of the upper courtyard, the two open-gorge towers of the lower courtyard and the great west wall. Since 2008, the association "Les Amis de Saint-Germain et son Château" has been clearing its undergrowth and ensuring its preservation. The site (castrum of Saint-Germain) is registered as a historic monument (reference PA01000045).