Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Saint-Martin, mentioned from the 13th century, is a medieval building whose main body forms a square massif flanked by three crenellated towers. These towers, initially medieval, were raised and modified in the 19th century, while a fourth tower, similar but more recent, was added to the east wing. The castle underwent a major renovation at the beginning of the seventeenth century, partially transforming its original structure.

In the 18th century, a landscaped park was created around the castle, organized according to a central axis responding to the facades. This park includes structural elements such as a pigeon house and a henhouse, as well as a vaulted underground tank, built in 1747. Supported by twenty pillars, this tank was used to water the gardens. The communes, located near the entrance, were later transformed into houses.

Destroyed during the French Revolution, the castle was raised in 1820 and enlarged in 1865 by a wing in return. The facades, the roofs, the park in its entirety, as well as the large cistern, were inscribed in the Historical Monuments by order of 14 November 2003. These protections also cover the structural elements of the estate, testifying to its architectural and landscape evolution.

The site, located in Saint-Martin-de-Pallières in the Var (region Provence-Alpes-Côte d Whilst French Riviera), illustrates the successive transformations of a medieval castle into an aristocratic residence, marking the eras with its additions and restorations. Its park, conceived as a harmonious extension of the building, reflects the aesthetic and functional principles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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