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Legendary castleDordogne

Château de Beynac

Beynac-et-Cazenac

Dimensions
An irregular quadrilateral extended to the south by a bastion, perched 150 metres above the Dordogne. Square Romanesque keep with brattice and bartizan, double crenellated curtain wall, double ditch and double barbican on the plateau side. Inside: the hall of the Estates of the Périgord, a Renaissance chimneypiece with bucrania, a spiral staircase, 17th-century apartments with panelling and painted ceilings, a 15th-century oratory decorated with a Pietà, a Saint Christopher and a Last Supper.
Period
Castrum of the 11th century, château of the 12th and 13th centuries (square keep), residential ranges remodelled in the 14th, 16th and 17th centuries.
What stands there
Listed as a monument historique (classified) on 11 February 1944, together with the enclosure walls and the terraces; Mérimée record PA00082380. Bought at auction in 1962 by Lucien Grosso, who restored it; bequeathed in 1999.

Beynac locks the Dordogne from its rock, a hundred and fifty metres above the river. The barons of Beynac raised it in the 12th century; Richard the Lionheart gave it around 1194 to his routier Mercadier, who held it until his murder at Bordeaux in 1200. During the Hundred Years' War the stronghold was French and faced Castelnaud, English, on the other bank. The family died out in 1753. The château housed the hall of the Estates of the Périgord, where the nobility of the four baronies assembled. Restored since 1962, it is one of the most visited in the department.

Further reading

Getting there : Open to visitors. Official website: chateau-beynac.com.

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

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Château de Beynac
Johan Allard · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

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In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).