Château fort de Lourdes, Medieval castle and historic monument in Lourdes, France.

The Château fort de Lourdes is a medieval castle perched on a rocky outcrop that towers over the town and the surrounding Pyrenean peaks. It features a keep, a drawbridge, and thick defensive walls connecting several buildings used over the centuries for living, storage, and defense.

Roman remains were found during 19th-century military works, but the oldest standing foundations date from the 11th and 12th centuries. The keep was built at the end of the 14th century by Gaston Fébus, Count of Foix-Béarn. Ceded to the English by the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, the castle returned to France in the early 15th century after two sieges, and was fortified again by the army in the 19th century.

The Pyrenean Museum inside displays everyday objects from rural mountain life, including clothing and tools from the 18th and 19th centuries. Walking through the collection gives a clear sense of how people in the surrounding valleys once lived and worked.

A free elevator brings visitors up to the castle entrance, which makes the climb much easier. Even so, wear sturdy shoes since the grounds have uneven paths and stairs, especially in the older parts.

The keep, the castle's high residential tower, was built at the end of the 14th century by Gaston Fébus, Count of Foix-Béarn. The chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Château holds the furnishings of the parish church of Saint-Pierre de Lourdes, demolished in 1904, and was itself built with reused materials from that church.