Château de Crozant

En un regard

Le château en bref

Built between 997 and 1018 according to some sources, on a rocky spur between the Creuse and the Sédelle rivers, the fortress of Crozant is first mentioned in a charter of 1200–1210. The 13th-century tower known as the "Isabelle d'Angoulême" tower is said to have been built by the wife of Hugh X of Lusignan. The castle took on its recognisable form in the 13th century under the counts of La Marche and was strengthened in the mid-15th century. In 1356, during the Hundred Years' War, it withstood the Anglo-Gascon assaults of the Black Prince, before the village was plundered. Damaged by Catholic extremists in 1588 and stripped of its stones by the inhabitants from 1606 onwards, it was described as being in an advanced state of ruin in an official report of 1640. The lordship passed through the Foucault de Saint-Germain-Beaupré, Lusignan, Plantagenet, Bourbon and Armagnac families; Gabriel Foucault acquired it in 1646, and his descendants kept it throughout the 18th century. The ruins, classified as historic monuments (monuments historiques) since 1997, inspired George Sand and Frédéric Chopin, as well as the Impressionist painter Armand Guillaumin, helping to make the area known as the "Valley of the Painters" (Vallée des Peintres). A joint syndicate bringing together the Creuse department (50%), the Communauté de communes du Pays Dunois (30%) and the commune of Crozant (20%) now oversees the restoration campaigns.