En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château de Vervins, known as the "Vieux-Château" (Old Castle), was built around 1163 by Raoul I de Coucy, at the northern end of the town's fortifications. The medieval complex comprised two round towers and an octagonal tower housing the seigneurial archives, as well as a detached chapel. Damaged by Spanish troops in 1552, it was abandoned when Jacques II de Coucy had a new château built nearby, hence its name of "old castle". Bought by the municipality in 1804, the building successively housed a court (1793), a secondary school, or collège (from 1804), and a theatre hall (1828). In 1884, the architect Georges Dupont converted the site into a boys' primary school, building two crenellated pavilions and carrying out extensive demolitions. The main building was destroyed in 1958; only the north pavilion of 1884 survives, crowned with a slate hipped (pavilion) roof, while a new collège was built on the site around 1960. The property remains in municipal ownership today.