Saint-Laurent-les-Tours Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Perched on a spur overlooking the Bave valley and the town of Saint-Céré, the Château des Tours-Saint-Laurent is a medieval fortress of the Quercy whose silhouette can be recognised from afar thanks to its two great towers. The small tower, Romanesque and twenty-eight metres high, dates from 1178; the large tower, thirty-five metres high, dates from 1390. For eight centuries the site was held by the Viscounts of Turenne, who recovered it in 1427 after several changes of hands during the Hundred Years' War, followed by further episodes during the Wars of Religion. In 1738 it was acquired by Louis XV. A neo-medieval manor house was added within the enceinte in 1895. In 1944, the castle housed the Radio Quercy resistance station. The painter and cartoonist Jean Lurçat, who revived the art of tapestry, set up his studio there; after his death, the Lot department bought it from his widow in 1986 and in 1988 opened the Jean Lurçat studio-museum, which has been awarded the Maison des Illustres label.