Château de Temniac

Sarlat-la-Canéda

Temniac occupies the height that dominates Sarlat from the north. The castle belonged to the counts of Périgord in the 8th and 9th centuries, who sold it in 890 to the abbot of the monastery of Sarlat; the monks enlarged it. In 1317 it became the residence of the bishop of Sarlat and remained so until the Revolution. Damaged during the Hundred Years' War, it was restored in 1424 by bishop Bertrand de La Cropte, then reworked in the Renaissance taste from 1480 by Bertrand de Rouffignac and Pons de Salignac. The Protestants of Symphorien de Durfort set fire to the four suburbs and to the chasteau de Temniac; rebuilt in 1593, it was destroyed again in 1652 by the troops of the prince de Condé. François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon, the archbishop's uncle, raised it again in 1662, and a seminary was installed there in 1683. Seized in 1795 and sold for 24,000 francs, it ended as a farm building and then as a ruin.

Getting there : Ruins belonging to a private association; visiting conditions not known. The church of Notre-Dame de Temniac, next door and owned by the commune, is the landmark of the place.

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

Ambient sound