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Castle of Fontenelle à Mirabeau dans les Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine défensif
Demeure seigneuriale
Château
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

Castle of Fontenelle

    Fontenelle
    04510 Mirabeau
Private property
Château de Fontenelle
Château de Fontenelle
Château de Fontenelle
Château de Fontenelle
Crédit photo : Sébastien Thébault - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Moyen Âge central
Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
1220
County share
XIIe siècle
Link to Forcalquier
XIVe–XVe siècles
Lordship of the Barras
1570
Purchase by Riqueti
1694
Deydier's annoyance
1815
Napoleon's Passage
1980
Historical Monument
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Facades and roofs (Case Y 85): inscription by order of 28 April 1980

Key figures

Guillaume de Sabran - Lord of Mirabeau (XIIIth century) Divided into Forcalquier County in 1220.
Raimond Bérenger IV - Count of Provence Heir to Forcalquier County in 1220.
Jean Riqueti - Consul of Marseille (XVI century) Aceta Mirabeau in 1570.
Claude Deydier de Curiol - Lord of Mirabeau (1652–1709) Anobli in 1694, last lord before the Revolution.
Jean Pierre Balthazard Aillaud - Lawyer and Owner (18th century) Descendant des Barras, owner of the castle.
Alexandre Julien Fruchier - Doctor and Mayor of Digne Owner by covenant in the 18th century.

Origin and history

Fontenelle Castle, located in Mirabeau in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, is a 16th–17th century building. It consists of four towers, vaulted cellars, two dovecotes and a piece of water. Private property and restored, it is not open to visit. Nearby, Tarelle's farm and chapel once depended on the castle. The site dominates a historical Roman route, taken by Napoleon in 1815 when he returned from the island of Elbe.

Mirabeau's fief, originally part of Forcalquier County in the 12th century, was divided in 1220 between Guillaume de Sabran and Raimond Bérenger IV. In the 14th–15th centuries, the seigneurie passed to the Barras and then to the Glandevès by marriage. In 1570 Jean Riqueti, consul of Marseille, acquired Mirabeau, followed by the Deydier de Curiol, anoblis in 1694. Confiscated at the Revolution, the castle changed hands several times, especially within the Fruchier family, before being sold.

Ranked a Historic Monument in 1980 for its facades and roofs, the castle illustrates the feudal and noble history of Provence. Its architecture reflects the successive transformations carried out by its owners, from Barras to Riqueti and the Glandevès. The chapel of Tarelle, linked to the estate, bears witness to its religious and agricultural importance in the valley of the Bléone.

External links