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Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Mirambeau rises on a rocky spur overlooking the city, in Haute Saintonge, border region between Saintonge and Guyenne. It replaces a medieval fortress mentioned in 1083 under the name of Mirambel-l This strategic site, one of the region's strongholds with Jonzac or Montendre, was contested during the Hundred Years' War, passing from the hands of local lords (such as Guilhem of Cheyning, vassal of the King of England) to those of the crown of France.

In the 17th century, Arnaud d'Escodéca de Boisse undertook a 40-year restoration (1617-1657) after the damage of religious wars. The castle then belonged to the lords of Pons, before being acquired in 1818 by Charles Jacques Nicolas Duchâtel, Norman minister and politician. The latter entrusted his reconstruction to architect Poitevin (1825-1836), who erected an architectural pastiche combining neo-Louis XIII, Renaissance and neo-medieval styles, using the vaulted foundations of the former fortress.

Passed to his son Tanneguy Duchâtel, himself minister and patron, the castle will house an orphanage before being ceded to the state in the 20th century. In the 1980s, it became a five-star hotel-restaurant. Its current architecture, surrounded by an eight-hectare park, includes a neo-Gothic chapel and a 17th-century portal flanked by cylindrical towers. The archives of the Duchâtel family, linked to the Dukes of La Tremeille, are now preserved at the Château de Serrant (Maine-et-Loire).

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