Château des Baux-de-Provence

Les Baux-de-Provence

A vertiginous site whose stone seems almost melted into the rock, its ruins dominating the Alpilles like a stranded ship of stone.

Perched at around 245 metres above sea level on a rocky spur of the Alpilles, this partly troglodytic fortress overlooks the plain of the Crau and was the seat of the powerful house of Les Baux, one of the most formidable seigneurial families of medieval Provence, mentioned from 975 under the name castrum Balcium. The site has yielded traces of occupation going back to the Neolithic, but it was in the 11th century that the castle took on its fortress form, with a rectangular 13th-century keep that is today its best-preserved element. Attached to the French crown in 1481, the castle was abandoned and left in ruins before being restored and opened to the public in the 20th century.

Getting there : Listed as a historic monument since 1875 (Mérimée record PA00081208); admission charge, with reconstructed medieval siege engines

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

Ambient sound