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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Vicq Castle, located in Vicq-sur-Breuilh, New Aquitaine, is a seigneurial residence built between 1514 and 1542, representing a remarkable example of the architecture of the First Renaissance. This historic monument preserved emblematic elements of this period, such as carved caps, vein departures from the old gallery on the ground floor, as well as a set of 16th century windows on the back façade. Inside, the authenticity of the place is underlined by apparent solives, pebbles, and stone chimneys, while the round towers, partially destroyed during the Revolution, still retain their original bay leggings and mouldings.

The square staircase tower, adorned with a typical Renaissance decoration, houses a spiral staircase with fourteen steps. The outbuildings, organised around a closed courtyard, combine parts dating from the 16th century and others remodeled in the 17th and 19th centuries. The cadastral plan of 1831 mentions water moats on three sides of the castle, now reduced to ditches of land. At the back, a terrace supported by three walls and flanked by two turrets completes the whole, testifying to the defensive and aesthetic importance of the site.

Ranked as a Historic Monument by order of 16 January 1996, Vicq Castle protects its house body with its four towers, terraces and turrets, as well as the remains of its moat and outbuildings. These elements, combined with preserved architectural details, make it a valuable testimony of the seigneurial art of living and stylistic evolutions between Renaissance and modern times in Limousin.

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