Château de Lusignan et promenade de Blossac

Lusignan

In the month of March in the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, a dragon flies over a white castle: it is Lusignan, and the dragon is Mélusine. The place is very real. A first castellum rose in the mid-10th century, and a castle is recorded in the early 11th. In the 12th and 13th centuries the lords of Lusignan made it the seat of one of the most powerful lineages in western France. In 1308 the castle passed to the royal domain. Jean de Berry recovered it from the English in 1374 and carried out works there. It was for him that Jean d'Arras wrote, in 1392-1393, the Noble Histoire de Lusignan, in which the fairy builds the castle in one night. Besieged by royal troops in 1574-1575, the castle was dismantled on the king's orders in 1586; its Mélusine tower held out until 1622. In the 18th century the intendant Blossac turned the promontory into a promenade planted with lime trees. What remains are wall sections on the cliff, the base of the Poitevine tower, part of the keep and a cistern, inscribed as historic monuments in 1997.

French Ministry of Culture — Château médiéval de Lusignan (Mérimée database) ↗

Getting there: Promenade du Petit-Blossac and place du Bail, west of the town of Lusignan, about twenty kilometres south-west of Poitiers. Free access all year; terrace with a view over the valley. Tourist office in the former fortified area.

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

Ambient sound