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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Lagrange-Monrepos, located in Nérac in Lot-et-Garonne, finds its origins in a medieval building controlling the Baïse valley. Around 1550, it would have been renovated or built by Henri I of Albret (king of Navarre) for his mistress Marianne Alespée, whose family owned it until the early 17th century. Its architecture reflects this dual vocation: six defensive towers with murderers recall the Wars of Religion, while large stone crosses and interior decorations (polychrome roads, painted ceilings) illustrate the fascist of the Renaissance. Tradition also attributes its construction to Jean Alespée, advisor to Jeanne d'Albret, with works dated from the 1560s.

Ranked a Historic Monument in 1991, the castle retains remarkable elements: a dovecote with its rotating scale mechanism, an architectural fountain, and medieval remains like a broken arched door. In the 17th century, the Jausselin de Brassay family added a vestibule (door dated 1644) and agricultural outbuildings (press houses, cellars). A fire at the beginning of the 20th century damaged the structure, since restored. The murals of the first floor and of the oratory, as well as the armories which were laid at the time of the Revolution, testify to its turbulent history.

The site is part of the heritage linked to the court of Navarre in Nerac, where Henry IV spent part of his childhood. The gardens, the gallery moved into the courtyard, and the 19th century commons complete this ensemble, mixing medieval heritage, Renaissance and subsequent transformations. The castle, its towers, its enclosure and its dovecote are protected since 1990-1991, highlighting its historical and architectural importance.

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