Château

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The castle, situated at the meeting point of the Via Aurelia coming from Rome and the Via Dominitia heading towards the Pyrenees, must have succeeded a Roman "castellum", which became a fortified villa or manor. It presented a square plan with crenellated curtain walls and four corner towers. Some lower courses of the western façade may have belonged to the Roman period, but overall, the outer enclosure appears to belong to the 12th century. It was surrounded by a wide ditch which was crossed by a drawbridge facing the main western entrance. The four square towers were crenellated and contained, at various levels, guard rooms fitted with arrow slits. These towers were dismantled and the two on the west were covered, in the early 17th century, by a coved vault. A dwelling block was established, in the 15th century, against the north wall. It is served by a door and a staircase which appear to have been reconstructed and date from the Louis XIII period. In the courtyard is a well whose coping, surmounted by a basket-handle arch, flanked by two columns, belongs to the 15th century. The edifice was dismantled in 1792, during a riot which occurred in Arles and which spread.