Château de Brésis

En un regard

Le château en bref

Château de Brésis, in the commune of Ponteils-et-Brésis (Gard), was founded in the twelfth century by the Hérail family to keep watch over the valley passage. In the thirteenth century, Pierre Hérail de Brésis had the present fortified castle built on a polygonal rock, of which a square tower 15 metres high and three storeys tall, built of slate schist, survives. Elevated to the rank of viscounty in the sixteenth century, richly furnished with Flemish tapestries in 1687, and protected during the Camisard War at the beginning of the eighteenth century, it passed to the Ailhaud du Castellet family in 1792. Stripped of several architectural elements by an antiquary at the beginning of the twentieth century, it was subsequently reacquired by descendants of the Hérail family, who undertook its consolidation. Listed as a monument historique in 1997, it remains a private property, and visits to the interior fortifications remain prohibited; only an exterior view from the boundaries of the property is permitted.