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Origin and history

The Château de Val, located in Lanobre in the Cantal but owned by Bort-les-Orgues (Corrèze), is a castle built in the 14th century on foundations of the 13th century, and then redesigned in the 15th and 18th centuries. It initially dominates the valley, now submerged by the artificial lake of Bort-les-Orgues, whose waters reach its walls. Its park disappeared under the waves after the dam was built in 1946, but the castle, spared by the flood, remains a major architectural testimony.

The fief of Enval (now Val) belongs first to the families of Thynières and Pierrefort, before being acquired by Guillaume IV d'Estaing (1397–?), chamberlain of Charles VII and governor of Rouergue. The latter built the present castle in the 15th century. The d'Estaing family occupied him until Guillaume V (born 1529), before the estate passed into the hands of several families, including the d'Arcy. The latter were expropriated in 1946 for the dam, carrying the furniture. Left abandoned, the castle was looted in 1949, then saved by the initiative union of Bort-les-Orgues, who obtained property in 1953 for a symbolic franc.

Ranked as a historical monument since 1946 (for the castle) and 1961 (for the chapel Saint-Blaise), the site is now a tourist site managed by Bort-les-Orgues. It has hosted contemporary art exhibitions since the 1950s, with works by artists such as Bernard Buffet or Eugène Baboulène. The castle was also used as a setting for films (Le Capitan, 1960) and television shoots (Les Traîtres, 2023).

Architecturally, the castle consists of a body of rectangular houses flanked by six mâchicoulis-angle turrets, typical of the 15th century. The chapel Saint-Blaise, the communes and the fountain date from the end of the 15th century, while the tower of the commons preserves traces of the 13th century enclosure. The facades and roofs of the communes, as well as the fountain, have been registered since 1990.

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