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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Jumilhac, located in Jumilhac-le-Grand in Dordogne (New Aquitaine), finds its origins in the 12th century with a first castle fort. The present building, built between the 13th and 17th centuries, was thoroughly renovated in the Renaissance and then restructured in the 17th and 18th centuries. It dominates the confluence of Isle and the Ruchalait Creek, to the southwest of the village, near the church of Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens. Private property open to the public, since the 16th century it belongs to the Chapelle de Jumilhac family, then to their descendants, La Tour du Pin.

Jumilhac's fief, divided in the Middle Ages between the families of La Porte and Bruchard, then passed to the Cognac and the Crevant. In 1579, Antoine Chapelle, master of forges, married Marguerite de Vars, heiress of the place, and bought in 1581 the part of the Crevant, reuniting the seigneury. Financial support for Henry IV, he obtained in 1597 the title of Count of Jumilhac and enlarged the castle before his death in 1603. His grandson, François Chapelle, raised the estate in marquisat in 1655 and rearranged the castle, adding wings and the entrance gate.

During the Revolution, the castle was sequestered after the emigration of Marquis Antoine Pierre Joseph Chapelle. He changed hands several times in the 19th century, notably to the financial worker (1822), then to the industrialist Étienne (1862), before being divided into dwellings at the beginning of the 20th century. Rached in 1927 by Raymond Odet Chapelle de Jumilhac, it was restored and opened to the public in 1964. Ranked a Historic Monument between 1922 and 1924, it preserves Renaissance elements, French-style gardens inspired by Le Nôtre, and a decor linked to alchemy.

The castle was used as a setting for filming, including Le Pacte des loups (2001), episodes by Nicolas Le Floch (2010), and Kaamelott: Second Component (2024). Its architecture mixes house bodies lined with mâchicoulis, conical towers, and dardian roofs decorated with spears with seigneurial and alchemical motifs. The north and south wings, resuming old outbuildings, end with corner pavilions retaining defensive remains.

The church of Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens, an ancient castral chapel, houses a liter funeral of the Marquis Jean-François Chapelle (died 1693). The park, renovated since 1994, is inspired by a 1777 model and evokes the themes of gold and alchemy, dear to the history of the site. The estate, still owned by the descendants of the Chapel, perpetuates an architectural and historical heritage marked by the transformations of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The protection of the castle extends over three stops: classification of the central body (1922), the right wing (1923), and the left wing (1924). Its history reflects political upheavals (Rvolution, Restoration) and social changes, from medieval fortress to seigneurial residence, then instead of cultural tourism.

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