Château du Bosquet

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château du Bosquet stands in the commune of Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche, in the far south of the Ardèche department. Built from 1520 onwards on the initiative of Claude de Tournon, Bishop of Viviers, it was originally designed as a bastide intended to serve as a summer residence for the bishops of Viviers. During the 16th and early 17th centuries, Antoine du Roure, Baron of Aiguèze (died 1622), transformed this originally fortified structure into a residence of Renaissance character. The building forms a regular quadrilateral of four ranges flanked by two round towers at the southern corners; a pentagonal tower houses an original spiral staircase, and the west wing forms the main residential block (logis), the other wings having housed outbuildings and lodgings. The ensemble, which comprises some twenty main rooms on an estate of about nine hectares, is considered a significant example of the spread of Renaissance architecture in the Rhône valley. Privately owned, the château has been registered as a historic monument (inscription) since 2003 (an earlier 1981 registration covering the façades and roofs having been annulled).