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Origin and history

Tarascon Castle, located on the banks of the Rhone in Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône), is an emblematic 15th century building, combining Gothic and Renaissance styles. Reconstructed by Louis II of Anjou and completed by his son Louis III, he became a prestigious place for King René, who frequently stayed there and organized parties and meetings. This castle, with imposing defences (45 meters high, round and square towers), also served as a fortress controlling the political border of the Rhône until 1481.

A first castle, probably built by Roubaud II between 994 and 1010, already occupied the site. In the 13th century, Charles of Anjou, Count of Provence, partially occupied and restored it. In 1368 Bertrand Du Guesclin, under the orders of Duke Louis d'Anjou, was seated and took Tarascon as part of the French ambitions on Provence. The city was taken over in 1370, but the present castle was rebuilt from 1400 by Louis II of Anjou, with works interrupted and then taken over by Louis III (1428–135).

King René (1447–1449) made changes to make the castle more habitable, such as the addition of its bust and that of Queen Jeanne of Laval in the court of honour. The castle, equipped with artillery in the 15th century, lost its strategic role after 1481 and served as a prison from the 18th century to 1926, welcoming among others sailors enemies. The restorations of the 19th and 20th centuries, led by Henri Antoine Révoil and Jean Camille Formigé, give the monument its medieval appearance, notably by restoring crenelage.

Architecturally, the castle is divided into two parts: the lower courtyard, reserved for the commons and men of arms, and the seigneurial house, surrounded by walls of 4 meters thick and 45 meters high towers. The court of honour, surrounded by three-storey buildings, houses spiral staircases and carved decorations (chimers, eagles). The superimposed chapels, located in the semicircular tower, illustrate the duality between seigneurial space and common space. The graffiti of the prisoners, dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries, testify to its subsequent prison use.

The castle inspired artistic representations, such as the drawing of Désiré Monnier in 1849, and served as a cinematic decoration, lining the Bastille in La Révolution française (1989). Ranked as a Historic Monument since 1840, it is now owned by the municipality of Tarascon and houses an art center dedicated to René d'Anjou.

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