Castle of Le Barroux - Château du Barroux - Pics & Stories from 'La Provence'

LOCATION

Le Barroux château is perched like an eagle’s nest right at the top of a small village called Le Barroux (population 656) in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France.

HISTORY of Le Barroux Château

At the time of its construction, in the 12th century, the castle of Le Barroux was a mighty keep surrounded by thick bulwarks, which was to protect the surrounding countryside for Saracen and Italian invaders.

The castle was damaged during the French Revolution. In 1944 it was set on fire by German occupation troops. The Resistance fighters shot down a German soldier in an ambush. In retaliation against this shadow army, the occupying troops gathered the inhabitants of Le Barroux, with the intention of executing civilian hostages.

Fortunately, the leader of the German detachment would yield and not take this vengeance, but the platoon set the castle on fire as it went away. It was on fire for 10 days. It was the 24th of August 1944, the day before the liberation of Paris… The Château du Barroux was restored to its current form in the 1960’s.

The damage was extensive, and a new restoration was started as soon as 1960 by Dr Mouliérac-Lamoureux, an army medical officer, on private funds. Several films were shot here, in 1977-78 (The Sword Of Ardouaan) and 1980 (The Tales Of The Perched Cat).

Since 1993, the Association of the Friends of the Castle of Le Barroux has been continuing this work, with the support of the family Vayson de Pradennes, which still is the owner of the castle. Even though everything is not finished yet, the castle can now welcome its visitors.

INTERIOR Impressions

Splendid setting for a variety of Cultural and ARTISTIC Events

GUIDEBOOK

An informative guidebook (translated into 28 languages) will lead you through the loggia and spiral staircases, around the various rooms, terrace and chapel