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Origin and history

Montrond Castle is named after Mont Rond, a volcanic relief overlooking the Forez plain. As early as the 12th century, a fortification called castrum montais rounti was attested to there, belonging to the Counts of Forez. In 1302, Count John I of Forez exchanged the site with Arthaud III of Saint-Germain, whose family (now Apchon by alliance) began to build a castle around 1325. The latter, austere medieval fortress, was transformed into a Renaissance residence in the 16th century thanks to the marriage of Arthur VII with Marguerite d'Albon, sister of Marshal Jacques d'Albon and close to the court of Francis I.

The wars of Religion deeply mark the castle: looted in 1562 by the Huguenots of the Baron of the Adrets, then occupied by the League, it was taken over in 1594 by the Marshal of Ornano for Henri IV. The family of Apchon-Montrond, faithful to the crown, kept the estate until 1730, when they left for Paris. The last Marquis, Antoine-Louis-Claude, was guillotined in 1793, and the castle, occupied by counter-revolutionaries, was burned in 1793 by Claude Javogues' troops. The line was extinguished in 1807, leaving the castle abandoned.

In the 19th century, the site was dismantled by Victor Dugas, master of forges, who made it a stone quarry. Purchased by the family of Boissieu-Pruné, it remains in ruins until its safeguard in 1969 by the Association of Friends of the Castle. Since 1984, it has been owned by Montrond-les-Bains. The remains, listed as historical monuments in 1934 and 1946, include a 15th-century house with sill windows, chimneys and a flanking tower. A medieval festival has been organized there since 1999.

Archaeological excavations, such as those led by Laurent D The site, partially rebuilt, illustrates the evolution of a medieval fortress as a seigneurial residence, before its decline in modern times. Today, it reflects both the military architecture of the Forez and the political and religious upheavals that have marked the region.

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