Château de Château-l'Évêque, Medieval castle in Château-l'Évêque, France.
Château de Château-l'Évêque is a compound of multiple parallel buildings aligned east to west, defined by corner towers and spiral staircases featuring ornately carved doorways. The architectural layout reveals details from different building periods spanning centuries.
The castle was founded in the 14th century under Bishop Adhémar de Neuville, built to serve as a summer residence for the bishops of Périgueux. This role continued until the French Revolution transformed the building's purpose and fate.
The castle is also called château Saint-Vincent, after Vincent de Paul, who was ordained priest there on 23 September 1600 by Bishop François de Bourdeilles, in the castle chapel or in an oratory in one of the turrets. In the second half of the 20th century the building housed a hotel-restaurant of that name.
The castle is a private property open to visitors, set on a rocky promontory above the Mesplier stream north of the village, near the D939 road. The grounds cover 17 hectares, including a 300-metre riding path, an English-style park and a French-style garden. The parish church of Saint-Julien stands just east of the castle.
The painted ceiling in the oratory of the corbelled turret carries the arms of Bishop Guillaume Le Boux, and the coat of arms of Bishop Guy de Castelnau survives on the lodging he had built around 1515. The carved doorways of the two southern stair towers keep statuettes, niches and pinnacles, some of them hammered.
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