En un regard
Le château en bref
Château du Lieu-Dieu stands in the commune of Boulazac, on the banks of the Manoire, whose waters still feed its moats. Built in the early 14th century under the name of la Baconie by the Saint-Astier family, it owes its current name to an episode of the Hundred Years' War: in 1387, the Blessed Sacrament is said to have been sheltered there after an English attack on the region, giving rise to the Occitan place name "Lioc Dioc", the Place of God. A quadrangular stronghold flanked by round towers pierced with arrow slits and gunports, protected by a gatehouse and former moats, the castle was modernised in the 15th century to withstand gunpowder artillery, then given an octagonal dovecote in the 17th century. It was restored in 1868 by the architect Alexandre Antoine Lambert, who added numerous crenellations and machicolations. Having remained in the same family line for some six hundred years, passing through marriage to the Bayly and then the Sanzillon families, it has been registered as a historic monument since 1959. A privately owned, inhabited residence, it is not open to visitors but can be seen from the public road.