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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The tower of Albon is one of the last remains of the medieval castle built in the 13th century on the town of Albon, in the Drôme. This site, perched at 388 meters above sea level on a castral motte, was the heart of the Albon mandation and the cradle of the powerful house of Albon, at the origin of the constitution of the Vienna Dauphiné. Archaeological excavations have revealed a continuous occupation since the Gallo-Roman era, with a villa transformed into an ecclesiastical domain in the 6th century, then into a strong place in the Middle Ages.

Originally, power was concentrated in Saint-Romain-d-Albon, a Gallo-Roman establishment, before migrating to the Albon mound around the 11th century. A first wooden construction, surrounded by ditches, preceded the building of the stone tower in the 13th century. This quadrangular tower, with thick walls of 1.65 meters, symbolized the wealth of the Counts of Albon. It was accompanied by a decorated Romanesque chapel, an aula (room of appartment) and grain silos, reflecting the strategic and economic importance of the site.

The castle reached its peak between the 11th and 14th centuries, housing a princely residence with an aula magna and a camera retracted, as well as a castral village protected by a triangular enclosure. The Counts of Albon, like Guigues V — the first to hold the title of dolphin of Vienna around 1142 — exercised their power there through marriage and military alliances. The site was gradually abandoned from the 16th century, then used as a stone quarry, with the exception of the tower.

The archaeological remains, including the tower, the ruins of the chapel, the lapel, and the walls, were classified as historical monuments in 2012, after a first inscription in 1982. The excavations (1994–1997) revealed a palatial complex of the 11th–12th centuries, as well as an artificial motte raising a natural spur. Today, the Albon Tower bears witness to medieval military architecture and the political history of Dauphiné.

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