En un regard
Le château en bref
In Châteauvillain, a small town in the Aujon valley south-west of Chaumont, the remains of the castle bear witness to a powerful lordship of southern Champagne. Around 1160, Simon de Broyes, the first known lord, converted the original keep into a residential dwelling; the castle was then enclosed by a curtain wall at the end of the 12th century. The entrance was through a gatehouse built of rusticated stone, crossed by a double drawbridge over the moat, which the town had demolished in 1830 to open the rue de Penthièvre. A square watchtower replaced a round tower that had collapsed, and stables flanked the entrance. The most distinctive feature is the Tour de l'Auditoire, a former dovecote pierced on all four faces with openings for arquebus firing; it now houses the municipal museum, with models and summer exhibitions. The remains of the curtain wall have been protected since 1927, and those of the castle listed as monuments historiques since 27 June 1983.