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Bastide (planned town)Tarn

Bastide de Viviers-lès-Montagnes

Viviers-lès-Montagnes

Dimensions
A quadrilateral fort of 100 metres, once flanked by towers and ditches; the lower town on a regular north-south plan following the slope, formerly surrounded by walls; the château de Viviers of the 16th century; the parish church of Saint-Martin of the 14th century, with a cast-iron Virgin from the Val d'Osne by Mathurin Moreau; an old windmill; the Sabartarié farm; the château de Troupiac of the 19th century.
Period
Castle attested in 1267; bastide founded in 1339; sieges from 1565 to 1590; castle of the 16th century.
What stands there
Church of Saint-Martin inscribed as a monument historique in 1995. A commune of 1,992 inhabitants in 2022, in the Castrais, 15 km from Castres. The town hall's website devotes a page to the history of the bastide.

Facing the Montagne Noire, 15 km south-west of Castres, Viviers takes its name from the Latin vivarium, the fishpond. A Gallo-Roman oppidum watched over the valley, then a castle, attested in 1267 in a bull of Clement IV. In 1339, an act of paréage between King Philip VI of Valois and the co-lords, heirs of the Vintrou family, founded the bastide, one of the last in Languedoc: it comprised the fort proper, a quadrilateral of 100 metres with towers and ditches, and below it the town, laid out on a regular north-south plan on the slope and girded with walls, with 90 houses and then 20 more. Bought in 1565 by Antoine de Martin, it underwent four sieges between 1565 and 1590 during the Wars of Religion. The castle of the 16th century, the church of Saint-Martin of the 14th century and an old windmill look down on the village today.

Further reading

Getting there : Free access to the village. No tourist office or market is documented in the texts.

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

Bastide de Viviers-lès-Montagnes
Aristoi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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In the same department

All places — Tarn (23).