Castle Arlempdes is located in the municipality namesake, Haute-Loire, 25 km southeast of Puy-en-Velay.
It was built from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century on a spur overlooking the Loire, in a singular plane because it is embedded in the rock, which naturally extends the ramparts.
Supervisor then a strategic communication channel, the castle is deemed impregnable first possession of lords from regional families (Monlaur the Mirabel) and then, in 1450, it is integrated into the domain of Diane de Poitiers.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the site was used as a garrison and then gradually abandoned even before the Revolution as having no strategic interest. He even used career in the nineteenth.
In the 1960s, the last descendants of the eighteenth century owners and enthusiasts founded an association and redeem the ruins. Restorations are then performed.
To date, out of a portion of crenellated walls, the chapel Saint-Jacques of the twelfth century, built of red stone, renovated, is the only preserved part of the original castle. It is classified. Nearby, still a body building whose ground floor room that was function of weapons retained its vault. The rest of the fortress is in ruins but has a certain unit. The site hosts the rest a theater festival in the summer.
The spectacular and picturesque character remains intermixed with rocks and the chapel justify the town belong to the network of the most beautiful villages in France.
The site of the old castle is open all year. Guided tours in summer. Information +33 4 71 57 17 14.
