Callelle Castle dans le Tarn

Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château d'Appelle, located in the eponymous village of Tarn in Occitanie, is a central building whose date of construction remains unknown. It served as a seat for the local seigneury, favouring the development of the village before gradually isolating it. This castle belonged for several centuries to the noble Protestant family of Gineste, which now became Larambergue, who still owns it after restorations carried out in the 1980s.

During the Wars of Religion in 1587, the castle was looted, burned and partially demolished by Catholic troops, leaving visible traces in its current architecture. Subsequent reconstruction incorporated Renaissance elements, as a portal inspired by that of the Protestant theology faculty of Puylaurens. A splint window, typical of this period, also bears witness to this troubled time.

The castle park is home to a remarkable tomb, that of the "silver skull knight", a member of Gineste's family. His epitaph evokes the Battle of Minden (1759), a key episode of the Seven Years' War, and pays tribute to Marc-Antoine de Gineste-Najac, an officer wounded in this conflict. The grave, surrounded by cypress trees, and the grille with initials "GL" (Gineste-Larambergue) recall the family and military heritage linked to this place.

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