History
article | Reading time5 min
The noble house of Puyguilhem reveals centuries of history and architecture, magnified by an exceptional restoration !
Let's go back in time...
A Renaissance château in Périgord
A few hundred meters from the village of Villars, Puyguilhem stands in the middle of the woods... A large round tower, dwellings topped with dormer windows and two sculpted stair towers form this white stone silhouette.
Pierre Mondot de La Marthonie, President of the Parliament of Paris in 1515, had this château built after the models of the Loire Valley.
© David Bordes - Centre des monuments nationaux
From the Middle Ages to the 18th century
To affirm his success, the lord of La Marthonie chose the land of Puyguilhem, already occupied by a "fortified house". He never saw the project through to completion. After his sudden death in 1517, construction was continued for some fifteen years by his brother Gaston, bishop of Dax.
In the 18th century, the Chapt de Rastignac family, who succeeded the La Marthonie family, undertook extensions (a residential building was added to the left of the main staircase) and interior work.
© David Bordes - Centre des monuments nationaux
An endangered heritage saved from the ruin !
The Dukes of La Rochefoucauld, heirs to the château in the mid 19th century, sold it a few decades later. Quickly abandoned at the end of the 19 th century , the château was sold to a building contractor and looted from cellar to roof. Classification as a historic monument in 1912 did nothing to change that ! Puyguilhem was doomed to disappear...
But the will of the department in charge of protecting historic monuments was stronger. In April 1939, the State acquired the castle and a small part of its grounds. Despite the country's entry into the war, restoration of the monument began in the autumn and was entrusted to Yves-Marie Froideveaux, chief architect of the Monuments Historiques. The result is a Renaissance château that bears exceptional witness to the period in Périgord ! For twenty years, craftsmen have been working on restoring the original layout, recreating sculpted decorations and ancient paving...
Around the château, a boxwood labyrinth and a grove of statues were laid out.
© David Bordes - Centre des monuments nationaux