Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Lascours, located in Boisset-et-Gaujac in the Gard, is a historical estate with medieval origins, belonging to the Princes of Croÿ. It is structured around three main sets: the Donjon de Valabiac (XIIIth century), the Fort de Castelnau (XVth-17th century), and the present castle, transformed into a recreational residence in the 18th and 19th centuries. The site also includes a neoclassical farm, an orange plantation, and a park that has been undergoing rehabilitation since 2014, with remarkable biodiversity (sealed lezard, protected orchids).

The estate, described as a "valley where nature gathers its treasures" by the Fabulist Florian before the Revolution, welcomed intellectual figures such as Voltaire, Lafayette, or Madame de Staël. It was also a place of exchange with botanists (Jacquemont, Jaubert) and artists (Souchon, student of David). The general of Lascours, Baron d'Empire, completed neoclassical arrangements there in the 19th century, while the communes, organized as a Tuscan farm model, witnessed a self-sufficient domestic life until the 1950s.

Since 2014, galerist Pierre-Alain Challier and auctioneer Bertrand de Latour have been conducting an ambitious restoration project, combining heritage and contemporary art. The site now hosts works by artists such as Bernar Venet or Nils-Udo, and houses the archives of the former Artcurial Gallery (Arman, Cocteau, Delaunay). Threatened in 2020 by a prison project, the estate is supported by personalities such as Stéphane Bern or Corinne Lepage, highlighting its role as an ecological and cultural reservoir.

Valabiac's dungeon, a 13th-14th century defensive tower, served as a sheepfold until 2015. Its architectural elements (creneaux, scauguette, windows at cross-section) attest to its role in the wars of Religion. Castelnau Fort, framed by circular towers of the 15th-17th centuries, overlooks the vineyard and preserves dry moats and old greenhouses. The orangery, inspired by Palladian models, was commissioned by Prince Francis of Croÿ to house citrus fruits in winter, before being damaged by a fire in the 1990s.

The current cultural project includes exhibitions, concerts ("The Summer Nights of Lascours"), and a future research centre dedicated to art history. The park, studied by botanists, is home to protected species and remarkable trees (parasol pines, sequoias). The association Gardons Patrimoine Environnement campaigned to preserve this site, which was ranked among the "most beautiful places in the Gard" by the press, in the face of the threats of urbanization.

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