Château d'Uzès

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château d'Uzès, known as the Duché, overlooks the medieval town of Uzès (Gard) from the site of a former Roman castrum. The first recorded lord, Elzéar I, lived at the end of the 11th century; his daughter married around 1100 Raymond Décan I de Posquière, founder of the line that would give its name to the duchy. The barony was raised to a viscounty by Philip VI in 1346 in reward for services rendered during the Flanders war, and then to a duchy in 1565. Passing into the Crussol family in the 16th century, the fortress was transformed into an urban château overlooking the neighbouring towers of the Évêque and the Roi. The Bermonde Tower, a quadrangular keep built around 1170 by Bermond d'Uzès, retains a rectangular stair turret; its crenellated crowning with machicolations and bartizans dates from 19th-century restorations. A 15th-century Gothic chapel, with traceried windows and roof tiles bearing the arms of Uzès, completes an ensemble within a trapezoidal enceinte, combining an ancient western wing with a more recent eastern wing equipped with the Tour de la Vigie from the early 16th century. Listed as a monument historique since 1934 and partially classified since 1889, the château remains the residence of the dukes of Uzès and is open to visitors.