Château de Fabrègues dans le Cantal

Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Fabrègues, attested from the tenth century, was originally composed of a medieval tower (XIVth–XVth century) and a house body from the seventeenth–XVth century. It was completely rebuilt in the 19th century by architect C. Viée in a classic style, with innovative amenities such as a carriageway crossing the ground floor. Its gardens and interiors (slipper, living room, chapel) have been protected since 1992 as historical monuments.

The site is home to an ancient past: a dovebarium, discovered in 1802 near the Jordan River, contained about 50 terracotta funeral diurns. This circular cellar in dry stones and bricks bears witness to an ancient occupation, long before the written mention of the castle in the 10th century in the will of Géraud d'Aurillac, who bequeathed it to his nephew Reynald.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle belonged to the family of Puzols, linked to the religious conflicts of the region. Géraud de Puzols, lieutenant at the bailliage ducal, then his son Antoine, Calvinist, made him a Protestant den. In 1571, Antoine de Puzols, condemned for looting, illustrated tensions between Catholics and Reformers. The seigneury then passed to the Sarets, treasurers of France, who transmitted it to the Esquirou of Paris in the 19th century.

The magnificent reconstruction of the 19th century was the work of Felix Esquirou de Parieu, Minister and Vice-President of the Council of State. Married to an heiress of the Sarets, he modernized the castle, whose plans are published in La Construction moderne (1901) and L-Architecture (1909). His granddaughter Thérèse brought Fabrègues by marriage to the family Picot de Moras d的Aligny in 1906.

Today, the castle does not visit, but its architecture and history reflect the social and religious transformations of the Auvergne, from the Middle Ages to the contemporary era. Its listing in the inventory of historical monuments preserves a medieval, classical and family heritage.

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