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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Baume Castle, located in the Veurdre in the Allier, is a rectangular building surrounded by a park with three-centennial trees. It dates mainly from the 18th century, although a 15th century tower and remains of a strong house burned in the 13th century remain. The original site, built on a peak overlooking the Allier, was rebuilt after a fire in the 13th century, reusing the materials of the former lower yard.

From the 14th century, the castle belonged to the Perrin-Blanc family (or Le Blanc), which kept it until the wars of Religion (circa 1570), during which time it was destroyed. In the 18th century he passed into the hands of Jean Baptiste de La Quassière, Viscount de Chalus, and his wife Marie Thérèse Alarose, spared during the Revolution. Their son, François Dorothée, mayor of Veurdre, enhanced him in the early 19th century.

In 1839 François Dorothée attempted to establish a beet sugar factory there, but the company failed, resulting in the seizure and sale of the estate in 1852. The interior decorations, including a Chinese salon and paintings by Hippolyte Fauvel (1876), testify to its later embellishment. The castle, its outbuildings and remains of the fort house were listed as historical monuments in 1991.

The site preserves traces of its architectural evolution, from the medieval strong house to the transformations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, illustrating its adaptation to the needs and tastes of its successive owners.

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