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Origin and history

The dovecote of the castle of Assier, located in the Lot en Occitanie, is a circular building of 11 meters high dating from the 2nd quarter of the 16th century. Built in 1537 by Galiot de Genouillac (1465–146), great master of the artillery of François I, it is part of an architectural ensemble including a castle, a church and agricultural buildings. With 2,300 boulins (cotta nests), it far exceeds the average capacity of the dovecotes of the period (20 to 25 rows from 60 to 80 bolts), reflecting the power of its sponsor.

This dovecote, registered with the Historical Monuments since 2005, served as both a food reserve (meat and manure) and a social marker. Pigeons were then seigneurial privileges, often associated with nobility or ecclesiastical domains. The Assier is distinguished by its conical roof with lantern, perhaps original, and its engraved lintel bearing the date of construction, a rarity in the region. The coat of arms hammered during the French Revolution recall the political upheavals that affected these symbols of power.

The dovecote is part of a rural landscape in the Causse de Gramat, where Galiot de Genouillac owned an estate of 1,150 hectares. Its technical device, like the rotating scale for the maintenance of the bolts, illustrates the ingenuity of the agricultural constructions of the Renaissance. Today, it remains one of the few intact testimonies of seigneurial architecture linking utility and prestige in the Lot.

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