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Origin and history

Castellas is an ancient castle today in ruins, located on a rocky pyramid overlooking the plain of Bas-Rhône and Comtat, on the commune of Saint-Victor-la-Coste, in the department of Gard. Built between the 12th and 13th centuries, it belonged to the house of Sabran, connetables of the Count of Toulouse. Its strategic position allowed to monitor the Rhône valley and the roads to Uzès, the major city of the Middle Ages. The rocky peak of the Tave Valley, unique in the region, justified the building of this fortress, attracting the local population from the valley to the north side of the hill between the 11th and 12th centuries.

The history of the Castellas is marked by the fall of the Sabrans, linked to the defeat of the Counts of Toulouse during the Albigois Crusade. In 1249, the castle was handed over to the royal senechal of Beaucaire, who ordered its partial destruction by order of the king of France. From then on, Saint-Victor-la-Coste became a secondary seigneury, passing into the hands of feudal families such as the Montlaur, Poitiers, Nicolai and Gadagne. The current remains include an irregular polygonal enclosure of 50 meters and a rectangular dungeon, while the fortifications, destroyed around 1250, were partially rebuilt in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

The ruins of Castellas, classified as historical monument since 1991, reveal several successive enclosures: that of the castle, a forecourt, a third on the hill connected to the village, a fourth along the old church, and finally the rampart of the village with its medieval towers. The 12th century chapel is the only vestige of the first castle. Pink sandstone stones, formerly used for arches and openings, have been looted over the centuries. The site, owned by the municipality, offers a panorama of the Tave plain and illustrates medieval defensive architecture in Occitanie.

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