En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château de Fontguyon, in Saint-Amant-de-Nouère (Charente), stands on a site occupied successively by a Gallo-Roman and then a Carolingian villa before the château was built around 1570. It belonged to several notable families, including Guillaume de La Porte, provost of the marshals of Angoulême, Élie Lainsné and Antoine Gandillaud, mayors of Angoulême, as well as François and Pierre Poitevin de Fontguyon, who directed the royal foundries between 1784 and 1790. The U-shaped main building, made up of three wings, opens onto a vast courtyard; it was remodelled in the 17th century with the addition of a terrace and a horseshoe staircase. The spiral staircase and the chapel, both from the Renaissance period, as well as the pilastered gateway and the corbelled corner bartizan, are among its remarkable features; the Renaissance staircase has been listed as a historic monument (classé monument historique) since 1994.