Château de Graves is located in Graves, on the outskirts of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, in the Aveyron department of the Occitania region in southern France, Massif Central.
Château de Graves was built between 1543 and 1555 by Jean Imbert Dardenne, a wealthy copper merchant and consul of Villefranche. This quadrangular castle is built around a perfectly square courtyard, 12 m on each side, decorated in the Tuscan order and flanked by towers 7 m in diameter. It was more of a château de plaisance, open to the outside world, for a wealthy merchant.
Château de Gages, now destroyed, Château de Bournazel and Château de Graves are three châteaux influenced by the Renaissance architecture brought to Rouergue by the bishop of Rodez, Georges d’Armagnac, and Guillaume Philandrier.
The proximity of the architecture of Château de Bournazel has led some 19th-century historians to speculate that they were built by the same architect. There are no documents to confirm this hypothesis.
On February 4, 1554, Jean Imbert Dardenne signed a contract with the Rouergat master mason Guillaume Lissorgues. The château was already well advanced in 1544, as Guillaume Lissorgues had to come and repair some damage and build new works, “a large antique portal for the entrance to his house in Graves”. A contract was signed with a mason of the same name for the construction of the Villefranche collegiate church in 1590.
The château was classified as a historical monument on November 28, 1991.
Address: 33 Côte de Graves, 12200 Villefranche-de-Rouergue, France
Hours:
Tuesday 9 AM–12 PM
Wednesday 9 AM–12 PM
Thursday 9 AM–12 PM
Friday 9 AM–12 PM
Saturday Closed
Sunday Closed
Monday 9 AM–12 PM
Phone: +33 5 65 57 15 26
How to get to?
From Paris: 6 hr 38 min (612 km) via A20
From Toulouse: 1 hr 51 min (129 km) via D926
From Andorra: 4 hr 11 min (310 km) via D926
From Barcelona: 5 hr 33 min (509 km) via AP-7
From Madrid: 9 hr 32 min (928 km) via A-1 and A64
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