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Origin and history

Lacoste Castle, also known as the "Château du Marquis de Sade", is a medieval building built in the 11th century on a Luberon hill in the village of Lacoste (Vaucluse). Its strategic location offers stunning views of the Calavon Valley, the Vaucluse Mountains and the Ventoux. It was profoundly altered over the centuries and was a long-time member of the Simiane family, from the house of Agoult.

In 1627 Diane Simiane married Jean-Baptiste de Sade, ancestor of the Marquis, or in 1716, Isabelle Simiane left the castle to Gaspard François de Sade. The Marquis de Sade stayed there several times, notably between 1769 and 1772, where he had a 120-seat theatre built. He took refuge there after various scandals, until his final imprisonment in 1777.

During the Revolution, the castle was vandalized and destroyed in September 1792, its materials being sold. Sade, then in Paris, expresses his despair in a letter. In 1796 he sold the estate to Rovere, MP for Vaucluse, who died in 1798 in Guyana. In 1816, the castle, described as "in ruins, without doors or windows", was sold for 1,200 francs to a carpenter.

In the 20th century, the castle underwent two major restorations: first by André Bouer from 1952, then by Pierre Cardin, who acquired it in 2001. The latter launched the Festival de Lacoste, dedicated to lyrical art and theatre, and launched the Film Festival in 2020. Ranked a historic monument in 1992, the castle remains a controversial symbol, linked to Sade's sulphuric heritage and Cardin's cultural projects.

In literature, the Marquis de Sade immortalized the castle under the name of "Château de Silling" in The One Hundred Twenty Days of Sodom (1785) and La Marquise de Gange (1813). Today, the site combines medieval ruins and artistic heritage, while being at the heart of legal tensions since Cardin's death in 2020.

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