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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Puycalvary, first mentioned in 1288 during a division between the Palazols brothers, was then a typical room tower of the Southwest. The ruins of a 13th century dungeon remain, surrounded by an enclosure and a ditch that can be crossed by a drawbridge. This type of seigneurial residence, held in coseigneurie, also included a small castral agglomeration with a common street and houses.

In the 15th century, the fortress was radically reshaped by the Raffin family, notably by Armand de Raffin, who became lord by marriage in 1477, and then by his son Antoine de Raffin at the beginning of the 16th century. The latter, Senechal d'Agenais and captain of the guards of the kings Francis I and Henry II, transformed the castle by adding a Renaissance facade between two round towers of the 15th century. A seigneurial chapel, blessed in 1536, is built under the castle, with a choir with pans and vaults on dogive crosses.

The castle then passed into the hands of the Lusignan de Saint-Gelais by the marriage of Antoinette de Raffin in 1570, then was sold in 1660 to the Guiscard family, which raised him in county in 1696. Interiors and stables were added in the 18th century. Despite some deterioration during the Revolution, the castle was preserved and restored in the 20th century. It was listed as a historical monument in 1925.

Architecturally, the modern castle, rebuilt in the 16th century, occupies the space of the old lowyard and consists of three wings organized around a square courtyard. The north wing, with its circular towers, has six levels, while the west wing, with an entrance, doubles the medieval tower. A Louis XIII-style staircase tower connects the wings. The chapel, accessible by a staircase leading to stands, features a porch decorated with columnettes and cabbages, typical of the late 15th century.

The estate, sold in 1815 to Pierre Souilhagon de Bruet, remained in its progeny until the 20th century. The late restorations preserved the medieval and Renaissance elements, as well as traces of the 17th and 18th century developments, such as the stables or the loggia backed by the east wing. Today, the castle bears witness to the architectural and social evolution of an Agenese seigneury over more than five centuries.

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