Château de Bourganeuf, Medieval fortress tower in Bourganeuf, France

The Château de Bourganeuf is a round stone tower of light beige rubble masonry, built around 1484, rising from a lower rectangular wing with a dark doorway. A conical roof of reddish-brown tiles caps a machicolated parapet on corbels. Inside, seven vaulted floors with latrines are linked by a spiral staircase, and the walls are 2.80 m thick.

The Hospitallers of the Order of Saint John built the castle of Bourganeuf around 1150. Guy de Blanchefort ordered the round Zizim tower between 1484 and 1486 to hold Prince Cem, the Ottoman exile. The tower later served as a prison, including for Resistance fighters and Jewish families during World War II. It was classified as a monument historique in 1911.

The tower's name comes from Prince Djem, son of Ottoman sultan Mehmed II, held here in forced residence by Pierre d'Aubusson, Grand Master of the Hospitallers. Local tradition links the building to his exile, and the name Zizim, used for him in French, stuck to the tower. The seven vaulted floors, each with latrines, and the 2.80 m walls are what visitors walk through today.

The round tower rises from the lower wing in the town centre of Bourganeuf, reachable on foot. Inside, a spiral staircase climbs seven vaulted floors, each with latrines, to the timber roof at the top. Gallo-Roman finds from the region are displayed in the tower.

The tower's seven vaulted floors each have latrines, and its walls are 2.80 m thick; a spiral staircase climbs to the timber roof frame at the top. Built around 1484 on the orders of Guy de Blanchefort, it held Prince Djem, whose stay is recorded by tradition rather than by a fixed 1482-1488 span.