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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Le Château de Bouvées is a town in the commune of Labrihe in the Gers department. Built between 1530 and 1560 by Monsignor de Saint-Julien, bishop of Aire-sur-Adour, it replaces a primitive building whose remains served as foundations. Originally, the building consisted of three wings surrounding an inner courtyard, reinforced by round towers at angles. Today, only the eastern and southern parts remain, accompanied by agricultural dependencies reproducing the old provision.

The structure included a chapel decorated with sculptures and sled windows, as well as a round tower on a four-level base. A vaulted cellar made it possible to monitor the surroundings thanks to eye holes. Inside, fireplaces from the 15th and 18th centuries, terracotta floors and exposed beamed ceilings testify to different eras. The dovecote, built on the basis of a tower, and the remains of a poterne near the chapel recall the defensive organization of the site.

Sold as a national property during the French Revolution, the castle is now a private property. Since 1990, its facades, roofs, enclosure walls, ditches, chapel, round towers, spiral staircases and dovecote are classified as historical monuments. The protected elements reflect its architectural importance and evolution throughout the centuries, despite its partial state of ruin.

Available sources, including the Mérimée base of the Ministry of Culture and Monumentum, confirm its classification and describe its architectural characteristics. The site, although not open to the public in a systematic way, retains significant traces of its episcopal and defensive past, integrated into a preserved rural landscape.

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