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Legendary castleDordogne

Château de Marzac

Tursac

Dimensions
A rectangular residential range with a circular tower at each of the four angles and a fifth, square tower containing the staircase, added on the south-west front. Most of the building is crowned with machicolations and wall-walks; mullioned windows; moat filled in. A vaulted chapel keeping its frescoes, set in the south tower and serving as a funerary chapel; galleries with rib vaults on two levels in the inner courtyard; a terraced courtyard, outbuildings, a round dovecote flanked by pavilions, a formal garden with a basin.
Period
Stronghold of the Marzac family in the 13th century (Guichard de Marzac mentioned in 1294); present castle of the 15th century; chapel of the 16th, dovecote of the 17th.
What stands there
Inscribed as a monument historique on 13 March 1963, the inscription extended on 15 March 1991; Mérimée record PA00083031. Private property; an estate of 288 hectares. Acquired in 2019 by the Guyot family, owners of the château de Bridoire, after thirty years standing empty; restoration in progress.

Marzac stands a kilometre south-west of the village of Tursac, on a height that dominates the Vézère by some sixty metres. The Marzac family occupied the site in the 13th century; Guichard de Marzac is mentioned in 1294. During the Hundred Years' War the stronghold passed from English to French hands, and Sarlat seized it in 1420. The castle visible today dates from the 15th century: a rectangular residential range with four round corner towers, crowned with machicolations. A chapel of the 16th century occupies the south tower and keeps its frescoes. Among the owners, Marie-Madeleine Bart, granddaughter of the corsair Jean Bart, who died in 1781. The castle has been inscribed since 13 March 1963 and under restoration since 2019.

Further reading

Getting there : Private property. A plan to open to the public in the form of a life-size escape game was delayed by the pandemic; regular opening is not documented to date.

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 Marzac
CrazyD · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).