Château de Najac, Medieval castle in Najac, France

The Château de Najac is a medieval castle that sits 200 meters (650 feet) above the Aveyron River. Its inner courtyard is rectangular in plan and defended by towers positioned at the corners and along the walls.

The castle was founded in 1253, following an earlier structure that stood from 1100. Its construction took place under the authority of Alphonse of Poitiers, a major medieval lord.

The castle's name comes from the Languedocien "Castèl de Najac", and the site appears as "castellum rusticorum lingua dictum Nagiacum" in the late 11th-century Book of Miracles of Saint Faith. Since 1925 it has been classified as a monument historique, and it is one of 23 Aveyron castles on the Route des Seigneurs du Rouergue.

The castle stands on a hill above a loop of the Aveyron, reached on foot via a steep path from the village. The inner bailey is a rough rectangle about 40 metres long, with uneven stone ground. Allow time to walk up and to move between the towers and walls.

The castle's archers' slits reach 6.80 metres in height, a size meant to let three archers fire side by side. A corridor hidden inside the walls links the Romanesque square tower to the chapel of the keep, a passage visitors can look for.