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Origin and history

The Château de Saint-Cirgues-de-Malbert is a 17th-century building built in 1690 by Jacques de Chaumeil and his son François on the ruins of an ancient medieval castle. Located in the Cantal, in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, it stands 600 metres above sea level, on a rocky hilltop overlooking the village and its 11th century Romanesque church. The estate includes a three-storey rectangular house body, stables, barn, supply and garden. Its facades were once adorned with square mâchicoulis chopsticks, and its interior retains a stone staircase, monumental chimneys, as well as corbelled latrines.

The history of the site dates back to 1312, when Géraud de Saint-Cirgues, known as de Malfaras, erected the first castle, called Malfaras. The land then passed by covenant to the family of Puzols in the 14th century, then to the Albars, before being transferred in 1543 to the house of Giscard. In 1645 Jean de Giscard sold the ruins of the burning castle to Jean de Pestels de Levy, who exchanged them in the same year with Jacques de Chaumeil against the castle of La Roche-Loupiac. The reconstruction began in 1690, although financial constraints limited certain works, such as the walls of earthencast rather than lime.

In the 18th century, the castle changed hands several times: Marie-Françoise de Chaumeil brought François Dubois into dowry in 1733, then the seigneury was sold in 1777 to Claude-Louis de Leotoing, Marquis d'Anjony, for 110,000 pounds. Confiscated during the Revolution, the castle belonged to the Laden family in the 19th and 20th centuries, before being abandoned and then bought in 2005 and 2017 by private individuals for its restoration.

The interior of the castle reflects its past prestige: the ground floor housed living rooms decorated with golden paintings and scarlet velvet curtains, while the rooms on the first floor were lined with wool and decorated with green velvet. Kitchens, cellars and service rooms testify to a complex domestic organisation, with facilities such as a almost blind cellar-reserve to keep food. The upper floors welcomed the service rooms, equipped with smaller fireplaces.

Architecturally, the castle combines defensive elements inherited from the Middle Ages, such as scalables, with 17th century residential features. Its abandonment in the 21st century motivated safeguard campaigns, aimed at preserving this emblematic heritage of the Haute-Auvergne, classified among the remarkable castles of the Cantal.

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