Montastruc Castle is located in the town of Lamonzie-Montastruc, in the Dordogne department, 12 km northeast of Bergerac.
Located on a rock to the northwest of the village, bordering the course of the Caudeau, the site has been home to troglodyte dwellings since prehistoric times.
The first feudal castle belonged to the Abzac de la Douze family, one of whose members was lieutenant general of the King of England in Guyenne. During the Hundred Years War, one of the Abzac descendants was beheaded in Limoges in 1438 and his Périgord castle razed by order of the King of France Charles VII.
Returned to the family after its submission to the kingdom of France, the castle was rebuilt. But it was the Wars of Religion that soon agitated the region. The castle was besieged twice and then taken back from the Protestants by the seneschal of Périgord.
The estate was then enlarged in the 18th century and during the Second World War, for some time, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg found exile there.
Architecturally, we observe that a main building at right angles was rebuilt in the 15th century on the foundations of an original building, confined by three towers, and enlarged again in the 16th century on the west side (by filling the space left free between two towers). In the 1760s, a new square building was attached to the first. It is decorated with a pediment on one side and on the other ends with a pavilion.
Several outbuildings complete the set (stables, outbuildings, remains of an oratory). As for the park, it was redeveloped in the 19th century.
Although heterogeneous in style, perched on its rock, the castle is not lacking in nobility. Protected as historical monuments, it is still private property. It may be rented for receptions... Failing that, you can admire its silhouette from the bucolic surrounding countryside.
Information on +33 7 63 03 55 44.
