HISTORY

"The photos of the chateau in 1977 and those of the Amelin documents are the property of Mr Descossy (c) Region Languedoc-Roussillon - General registry, 1977"

A chateau on ancient foundations Puilacher is very old, it is mentioned as far back as the year 804 in the registry of Gellone ( Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert). There was a chateau very early on in the XIIth century, it was successively lived by two famous "Ladies of Puilacher", Aimeriga and Marie Navarre of Montpellier. The current chateau was built on the foundations of a medieval castle, which included the parochial church of Saint Trinity, and a round tower which is part of the actual building and the current corner tower. We owe its current appearance to the important alteration work of the XVIIth century, characterized in particular by the staircase, the floors of the main building as well as the shape of some of its windows. One of the only old drawings that we have is the Amelin drawing dating back to about 1825 and showing the staircase of the castle and the church. 1975, a pivotal year The current owners bought this castle in 1975, it had not been lived in for several years and was being used as a farm building. It was in poor condition and needed an enormous amount of work.

Tower and East façade in 1977

Renovation

30 years of works
The facade of the chateau, typically Languedoc and very understated, was totally revised in 1977 to restore its layout of the XVIIth century with, in the center and in its southwest part, transom windows and mullion windows in the northeast part which were part of a revision in the XVIIIth century.
The windows of the XVIIth century had been walled up or destroyed and most of their frames were broken or split.
Big French windows had been put in by 1850 on the first floor in the central part of the facade; they did not have balustrades anymore.
In the northern part of the facade, the round stone arch of the gate had been replaced by an iron U, the window of the middle of the first floor had been enlarged down to floor level to facilitate the introduction of farm produces; the window of the middle of the second floor had been enlarged for the same reasons; the round arch of one of the windows of the first floor was replaced by a horizontal girder...

The "pendentif" vaults that are typical of the Languedoc region, contained numerous stones that had crumbled off and which were replaced. The magnificent French-style ceiling with its three mouldings in the living room was completely restored. The imposing fireplace in the living room was put together by the owner after being inspired by an existing fireplace in the tower of a cathedral. The facades of the inner courtyard and the entrance on the church side also changed appearance.

The photos show the work done by comparing the appearance of the chateau in 1977 and now.

West side façade in 1975

West side façade in 2012

East side façade in 1975

East side façade in 2012

Architecture

Registered Historical Monument

December 21st, 1984, facades, roofs and central staircase were registered as an Historical Monument by order of the Ministry of Culture. The ceiling in 3 mouldings of the XVIIth century of the living room appears among the exceptional elements of the chateau, as well as the imposing fireplace.

French style ceiling with 3 mouldings

Entrance door

Central stairway vaults

An Association

In 2010, the association "THE FRIENDS OF THE CHATEAU OF PUILACHER" was created. Among its main purposes they quote: " to contribute to the preservation, to the restoration, to the development and to the artistic and cultural animation of the chateau of Puilacher and its surroundings and in particular (to insure) the promotion of the contemporary African artists to make them better known, to help them to develop new means of creation and to participate in doing so in the improvement of their conditions of life, work and movement".

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