Château de Ventadour

Moustier-Ventadour

On its rocky spur overlooking the valley of the Soulière, at 572 metres above sea level, Ventadour is among the most moving ruins in the Limousin. Founded around 1059–1060 by Ebles I, younger son of Archambaud de Comborn and the first Viscount of Ventadour, the castle commanded Ussel and Égletons and was reckoned one of the most powerful fortresses of its day. Above all, in the 12th and 13th centuries, it was one of the great centres of Occitan civilisation: Viscount Ebles II, known as "lo Cantador", cultivated the art of trobar here, and it was within these walls that Bernard de Ventadour was born around 1125, one of the most celebrated troubadours of courtly love, whose song carried as far as the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1374, during the Hundred Years' War, the fearsome mercenary captain Geoffroy Tête-Noire seized the stronghold and held it for some ten years. Sold as national property at the Revolution and then dismantled in the 19th century, the castle — protected as a historic monument as early as 1840, and a registered site since 2 March 1946 — was bought back by the commune in 1988. Excavations and consolidation work carried out since 1965, and intensified from 1999 to 2013, have uncovered the 170-metre enclosure, the great round tower, the seigneurial lodgings and the chapel of Saint-Georges.

Getting there : Moustier-Ventadour, near Égletons; footpath up to the spur; admission charge, varying by season (full price approx. €5), variable opening hours — afternoons on weekdays, all day at weekends in summer

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

Ambient sound