Château de Rochefort

History

A castle called Rupes Fortis, the strong rock, is recorded here in 1196. After the old castle was dismantled on the orders of Duke John the Fearless, the estate was bought by Jacques Coitier, first physician and grand chamberlain of King Louis XI. At the end of the 15th century he built the noble residence whose walls still stand. The Rochefort family enlarged it in the early 16th century, and the Languet family in the 17th.

The La Guiche family owned Rochefort from before the Revolution until 2017. In 1806 they partly demolished it to recover the materials of its roofs and floors, leaving the house open to the sky. The remains were classified as a historic monument in 1974. In December 2017 the association Les Clefs de Rochefort became the owner, and it has since restored the entrance buildings and roofed the outbuildings.

Architecture

The castle has two main parts: the seigneurial residence and the entrance complex. Polygonal towers, Renaissance windows, star-shaped vaults and carved atlantes, figures of men supporting the stonework, show the ambition of the late 15th and 16th centuries. A spiral staircase climbs one of the towers and offers views over the valley. Scaffolding and new roofs show the restoration in progress.