En un regard
Le château en bref
The château du Turluron, formerly Tholoronum, stands in ruins on one of the two volcanic buttes overlooking the town of Billom (Puy-de-Dôme). Probably dating from the 11th century, it was the seat of one of the four counties that the counts of Auvergne had established for the administration of justice; it is attested in a transaction dated 24 July 1314. A former chapel, of which some remains survive, was ceded in 1259 by the Benedictine prior of Cunlhat to the bishop of Clermont. The site was partially restored in the 1970s by a former owner of the château de Busséol. Difficult to access owing to dense vegetation, the ruins reveal neither flanking towers nor arrow slits, so that their original defensive function remains debated.