Hyères Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

The ruins of Hyères Castle crown Castéou hill, almost 200 m high, above the old town of Hyères (Var). Occupied since the early Middle Ages, the site was first the seat of the lords of Fos, masters of the region's salt trade, whose territory is recorded as early as 963 under the name "Eyras". On the summit stand the main tower, probably built in the late 12th century, and the remains of the original entrance cut into the rock. In 1257 Hyères passed to Charles of Anjou, Count of Provence; it became a comital town and the castle was turned into a royal fortress, enclosed by a new "Philippian" curtain wall with straight walls and round towers, a rare type in Provence, with north and south gates. Saint Louis stopped here in 1254, Francis I in 1530 and Charles IX in 1564. Held by the Catholic League during the Wars of Religion, the stronghold was taken by Henry IV's troops in 1596-1597, then dismantled and abandoned around 1620. Listed as a historic monument as early as 1862, the ruins have been excavated since 2014 by the LA3M laboratory (CNRS-Aix-Marseille University) together with the town of Hyères. The digs have revealed occupation from the 5th to the 17th century, two medieval kitchens and, in 2025, new buildings and medieval burials; according to the science press, a structure thought to be a bastion turned out to be the apse of a church.