Château de Simiane-la-Rotonde

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de Simiane-la-Rotonde, also known as the Château des Agoult, overlooks the village of the same name on the Plateau d'Albion in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. The site is mentioned as early as 1031 in a deed of donation to the Abbey of Saint-Victor in Marseille. Owned by the Agoult family, it underwent several alterations up to the 14th century. All that survives today are sections of the ramparts, the seigneurial residence (logis) and above all the Rotonde, a truncated conical tower more than 18 metres high built at the end of the 12th century, which gave the village its name. Its original function is still debated: too wide and too central to have been a defensive keep, it may have served as a castle chapel, built above a crypt housing the tomb of Raimbaud d'Agoult. Its upper hall is covered by a remarkable dome whose stone ribs converge in a helical movement towards a central oculus, regarded as one of the most astonishing achievements of Provençal Romanesque art. Gradually abandoned from the 16th century onwards, the site passed to the department and then to the commune, which owns it today and has restored it, notably in the 1980s. The Rotonde has been listed as a historic monument (classé) since 1862. Five rooms are open to visitors today, including an exhibition devoted to aromatic and medicinal plants.