Château d'Espeyran

En un regard

Le château en bref

Château d'Espeyran, on the Espeyran estate at Saint-Gilles (Gard), has seen 27 centuries of history: occupied from the late 6th century BC by Celtic peoples and Mediterranean merchants, the site became the summer residence of the Abbey of Saint-Gilles in the Middle Ages until the Revolution, then was sold as national property in 1791. Bought back in the 19th century by the Sabatier family, wealthy notables from Montpellier, it became a noted resort and a model agricultural estate, and the château retains its original furniture and decorations, a rare testament to this bourgeois way of life in the 19th century. Since 1973, the estate has housed the Centre national du microfilm et de la numérisation, attached to the interministerial Archives de France service, which ensures the preservation of microfilms and digital media of the national and departmental archives. Listed as a monument historique on 2 October 2009 and labelled Maison des Illustres in 2013, the château, its park and its archaeological reserve are open to visitors during the Journées du Patrimoine.