Keep of the Barons of Mercoeur (Château de Mercoeur)

En un regard

Le château en bref

Rising above the rooftops of Blesle, a small medieval town in the Brivadois, stands the keep of the Barons of Mercœur, nicknamed the Tower of the Twenty Angles. The lords of Mercœur, among the most powerful in Auvergne, built here at the end of the 12th century a residence intended for their children, the oldest surviving part, and then, at the beginning of the 13th century, this keep. Rectangular in plan, it rises to 26 metres and owes its nickname to the eight buttresses that multiply its corners; its machicolations rest on twin arches. Originally it had three storeys, two of them vaulted, served by a staircase built within the thickness of the walls. The roofs were in ruins as early as 1481. In 1716, the Chavagnac family acquired the whole complex, remodelled it and had a chapel consecrated in 1728. Confiscated and partly demolished during the Revolution, the castle was bought back by the commune in 1845 and served in turn as town hall, gendarmerie, prison and school, then as a convent. The tower has been listed as a monument historique since 20 January 1925.