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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Sourdis Castle, located in Gaujacq in the Landes, is a seigneurial residence built in the seventeenth century by François de Sourdis (1635-1707), lieutenant general of the armies of Louis XIV. It occupies the site of an ancient protohistoric oppidum, then of a medieval fortress razed during the Fronde. Jules Hardouin-Mansart, king's architect, designed the plans in 1686, inspired by Greek and Italian architecture to create a level building organized around an inner courtyard and a "garden of delights".

The castle, classified as a historical monument in 2002, is distinguished by its Italian gallery, its furnished apartments of the 17th and 18th centuries, and its decorations of woodwork and painted panels. Its garden, offering a view of the Pyrenees, houses bicentennial exotic trees such as magnolias and a plaqueminier, among the first planted in France. The symbols of the four elements (Athena, Medusa, Apollo, Heracles) adorn the entrances, reflecting an architectural design linked to the sun.

The history of the site dates back to Jean d'Escoubleau de Sourdis, master of the wardrobe of François I, who would have been seduced by the Chalosse after the Battle of Pavia (1525). The original fortress, destroyed, leaves only one part of a wall. In the 17th century, François de Sourdis erected the present castle, while in the 20th century the Thoby family developed a plantarium of 3,000 plant species adapted to the local climate, opened in 1993.

The commons, chapel and remains of the medieval enclosure have been registered since 2019. The castle, still inhabited, illustrates the evolution of a strategic site, from Gallo-Romans to modern times, mixing military heritage, classical art and botany. Its sober architecture, imposed by fears of rebellion in Gascogne, makes it a unique testimony to the history of the Landes under Louis XIV.

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