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Origin and history

The Zizim tower was built between 1484 and 1486 in Bourganeuf, in the current Creuse (Nouvelle-Aquitaine), on the orders of Guy de Blanchefort. It is part of the remains of the Hospitallers' Castle of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, built around 1150. His name comes from the Ottoman prince Osmanli Djem, nicknamed Zizim by the West, son of Mohammed II. The latter, defeated by his brother Bajazet II, gave himself in 1482 to Peter of Aubusson, great master of the order, who locked him in this tower until 1488.

The tower, round in shape with seven vaulted floors and 2.80 m thick walls, also served as a prison during World War II. The Germans incarcerated resistance and, in July 1943, Jewish families before their deportation to Auschwitz. A commemorative plaque pays tribute to them in the city. Classified as a historic monument in 1911, it now houses objects from local Gallo-Roman excavations.

Architecturally, the tower is distinguished by its spiral staircase and its summit structure. It symbolizes the strategic role of Bourganeuf, former capital of the Language of Auvergne within the Order of Malta. Among the three remaining towers of the castle, it is the most emblematic, associated with an episode of tensions between Ottoman and Christian Empires at the end of the 15th century.

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