Château de la Baume

Prinsuéjols-Malbouzon

Perched at 1,176 metres above sea level on the foothills of the Margeride, the Château de la Baume is first mentioned in 1275. It then belonged to the powerful barony of Peyre, one of the eight historic baronies of the Gévaudan, whose principal castle stood on the neighbouring Roc de Peyre. Destroyed after the violence of the Wars of Religion, that old feudal stronghold was abandoned in favour of La Baume: from 1632, under the impetus of Antoine de Grolée, the family set about rebuilding the site as a residence at once defensive on the outside and sumptuous within. A new campaign of enlargement, carried out between 1690 and 1715 by César de Grolée, added the south wing and gave the château its present scale, the only great château built in Lozère throughout the classical period — hence its nickname of the "little Versailles of the Gévaudan". In the 19th century the senator Casimir Mayran acquired it; his daughter married a descendant of Emmanuel de Las Cases, the memorialist who accompanied Napoleon to Saint Helena, and a room of the château is today devoted to him. Listed as a historic monument in 1963, with gardens registered in 1995, the château preserves an exceptional interior decor blending Italian and Versailles influences, in contrast with its austere outward silhouette.

Getting there : At Prinsuéjols-Malbouzon, in the Margeride, some fifteen kilometres north of Marvejols by the D989; open to visitors, bed and breakfast on site.

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

Ambient sound