Logo Musée du Patrimoine

All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

Castle of Celeyran à Salles-d'Aude dans l'Aude

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine défensif
Demeure seigneuriale
Château
Aude

Castle of Celeyran

    Château de Celeyran
    11110 Salles-d'Aude

Timeline

XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1900
2000
1880-1882
Stay in Toulouse-Lautrec
1883
Sale to Thérèse Humbert
avant 1917
Acquisition by Édouard Soulas
6 novembre 1952
Partial classification
2009
Repurchase by the region
2019
Sale to Gérard Bertrand
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Stone with Gallo-Roman inscription embedded in the south wall of the bedside of the chapel: classification by decree of 6 November 1952

Key figures

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - Artist painter He spent his youth there.
Amédée Tapié - Former owner Sell the estate in 1883.
Thérèse Humbert - Owner (late 19th) Acquired the castle in 1883.
Édouard Soulas - Owner and Renovator Transforms the castle (neo-Louis XV style).
Gérard Bertrand - Liver and owner Buy the castle in 2019.

Origin and history

Celeyran Castle, located near Salles-d'Aude in the Aude, is a monument dating back to the Gallo-Roman period. A tangible proof of this period remains: a stone bearing a Gallo-Roman inscription, embedded in the south wall of the bedside of the chapel. This architectural element motivated its partial classification as historical monuments in 1952, emphasizing its heritage importance and its anchor in ancient times.

From the 17th century, the castle belonged to the Mengau-Tapié family, which kept it until the end of the 19th century. In 1883 Amédée Tapié transferred the estate to Thérèse Humbert, marking a change of ownership. The place gained a notable artistic dimension when Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec spent part of his youth there between 1880 and 1882. His works made in Celeyran, later offered to the city of Albi, will form the heart of the future Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, illustrating the profound link between the artist and this site.

In the 20th century, Édouard Soulas, an enriched merchant in Argentina, acquired the estate before 1917 and undertook important work. He renovated the technical facilities and redecorated the castle in a neo-Louis XV style, an aesthetic choice which he reproduced in a Nice villa after 1924. Soulas died at Celeyran in 1943, leaving behind an architectural heritage marked by his eclecticism. The castle, after decades of transformation and degradation, was bought in 2009 by the Languedoc-Roussillon region and then sold in 2019 to Gérard Bertrand, a major figure in Languedoc winemaking.

The archives of the estate, preserved at the Departmental Archives of Aude, testify to its turbulent history. The site, although partially protected, has suffered fire and degradation, but remains a symbol of local heritage. The Gallo-Roman stone classified and the paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec make it a place at the crossroads of ancient history, 19th century art and regional winemaking.

External links