Châteaux de Bruniquel

Bruniquel

Planted on a vertiginous promontory above the confluence of the Aveyron and the Vère, the châteaux of Bruniquel carry one of the oldest royal legends of the Midi: tradition attributes the foundation of the castrum, around the year 600, to Queen Brunhilda, the formidable Merovingian sovereign from whom the village is said to take its name. The fortress is thought to have succeeded an earlier outpost before passing to the Counts of Toulouse, who established a viscounty here in the 11th century. The originality of the place lies in its plural: there are two châteaux here, born of a family quarrel. In the 15th century, Viscount Antoine-Roger I secretly sold lands to a cousin before dying; his son Léonard, who inherited the "château vieux" (old castle), lost the lawsuit he brought to recover them. The rival then built the "château jeune" (young castle) wall to wall with it, and the viscounty thus lived cut in two between the families for nearly three centuries. At the end of the 18th century, Viscount Rigal d'Ouvrier bought back the château jeune — then had its windows bricked up to escape the door and window tax of 1798. Inhabited until the 1950s, the château vieux dominates a terrace from which the view plunges down to the valley; the commune bought and restored the whole from 1987 onwards. On the cliff face, moreover, opens the Bruniquel cave, famous for its Neanderthal structures some 176,000 years old — an altogether different story, closed to the public.

Getting there : At the top of the village of Bruniquel, directly above the confluence of the Aveyron and the Vère; car parks at the entrance to the village, climb on foot through the medieval lanes to the esplanade of the châteaux. Admission charge in season.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound