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Origin and history

Lourmarin Castle, located in the eponymous village of Provence, is an emblematic building combining medieval and Renaissance architecture. Built in 1480 by Foulques d'Agoult, great lord of Provence and close to King René d'Anjou, it replaces an ancient fortress of the 12th century. This first medieval castle was enlarged from 1526 by Louis d'Agoult-Montauban and his wife Blanche de Lévis-Ventadour, who added a Renaissance wing designed by Italian architect Sebastiano Serlio, famous for its facades and stylistic innovations.

At the end of the 16th century, the castle passed into the hands of the Créqui-Lesdiguières family, which kept it until the French Revolution. During this period, he was mainly occupied by stewards managing the surrounding lands. After the Revolution, the castle changed its owners several times and gradually fell into ruins. In 1920, he was saved in extremis from the demolition by Robert Laurent-Vibert, a Lyon and patron industrialist, who bought him back to become an artist residence. Between 1921 and 1923 he restored it with the help of architect Henri Pacon and painter Charles Martel, before leaving it to the Académie des sciences, agriculture, arts et beaux-lettres d'Aix, which founded a cultural foundation that was always active.

The castle consists of two distinct parts: the old castle, medieval vestige of the 12th century organized around a courtyard with rooms of service on the ground floor and rooms of appartment upstairs, and the new castle, Renaissance wing on three levels decorated with carved chimneys, one with cariatids with faces of Amerindians. Among the architectural features are a Italian loggia, a large staircase with screws, and Renaissance windows separated by cornices. The park, once surrounded by walls and ditches, housed terraces, a leisure garden, and agricultural outbuildings such as stables and an oil mill.

A local legend combines graffiti discovered in a tower of the new castle with a gypsy curse of the 1920s. These drawings, representing a boat with eight characters and a cross, were however reinterpreted as a marine ex-voto dating from the late 16th century, linked to the Wars of Religion. The inscriptions and costumes of the figures evoke the reigns of Henry III and Henry IV, and some names correspond to Protestants established at Lourmarin between 1569 and 1640. This room, now closed to the public, bears witness to the various occupations of the castle, sometimes used as a refuge or place of confinement during periods of unrest.

Ranked a historic monument in 1979 after partial inscriptions in 1946 and 1948, Lourmarin Castle now houses a cultural foundation organizing exhibitions and artist residences. Its history reflects the social and architectural transformations of Provence, from its role as a seigneurial fortress to its renaissance as a place dedicated to art and heritage. The restorations of the 20th century, although controversial for some destructions (such as the filled lower room), allowed to preserve this jewel mixing medieval heritage and Italian influence, symbol of patronage and passion for history.

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