Hauts LieuxChapels, sanctuaries & legends

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Legendary castleDordogne

Château de Varaignes

Varaignes

Dimensions
On the square, a corbelled bartizan strengthens the angle of the front. The west face presents two towers, one square, the other hexagonal, both with crenellations and machicolations, with a corbelled turret caught within the roof of the large tower. The courtyard front is Renaissance: Doric columns carrying an entablature whose frieze is ornamented with triglyphs.
Period
A feudal building of the 13th century, reworked after 1451, with south and east wings built in the 16th century in the style of the second Renaissance.
What stands there
Inscribed as a monument historique on 27 September 1948 (PA00083050). Property of the commune. The Flamboyant Gothic portal, dismantled in the 20th century, is today at the Hammond Museum, near Boston. Restored by the commune, the inhabitants and local associations from the 1970s.

The château de Varaignes occupies the centre of the village, in the Périgord-Limousin regional nature park. A powerful feudal building was raised there in the 13th century; in 1280 Robert IV de Montbron was its lord. In 1451 the castellany passed by marriage to Gauthier de Pérusse, an officer of Charles VII, who had the 13th-century keep reworked and new building begun. In the 16th century Jean de Pérusse (1520–1595) built the south and east wings in the style of the second Renaissance, with an inner courtyard and Doric columns. The castle passed to the Stuart family by marriage from 1607, then to various lines, before entering the State domain around 1720. It belongs today to the commune and houses the Musée des tisserands et de la charentaise.

Further reading

Getting there : Municipal property open to the public: the castle houses the Musée des tisserands et de la charentaise.

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 Varaignes
Smacks · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).