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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The castle of Gua, located in Lescout in the Tarn, finds its origins in the 13th century with a first castle built around 1200 by the family of Puy, vassale des Trencavel. This primitive castle, attested in 1431, was destroyed and looted in 1574 by the Huguenots during the wars of Religion, while it belonged to a Catholic lord. The ruins remained until the reconstruction between 1619 and 1645, date engraved on a cut stone, under the direction of architect Isaac Rouch, collaborator of Pierre-Paul Riquet.

The 17th century reconstruction adopted a Louis XIII style, forming a classic brick and sandstone quadrilateral, with a main house inspired by urban cartreuses. In 1728 Timoleon de Bonnemain, adviser to the Toulouse Parliament, undertook a total reconstruction next to the old building, completed in 1731. The castle, preserved during the Revolution by his son, was sold in 1860 to the Carrade family, then became communal property. Its interior architecture, organized in a series since the 17th century, preserves two remarkable chimneys (Louis XIV and Empire styles).

Partly listed as historical monuments in 1978 for its facades, roofs and fireplaces, the castle illustrates the transition from medieval fortresses to classical seigneurial residences. Its implantation near the ford of the Sor (where its name, Go signifying "gated" in Occitan) and its exterior decoration (oculi, door to balls) testify to its adaptation to post-Renaissance aesthetic cannons. The French ceilings, which disappeared in the 19th century, remind us of the transformations that have taken place over the centuries.

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