Château d'Aubusson, Medieval castle ruins in Aubusson, France.

The Château d'Aubusson, also called le Chapitre, is a ruin on a rock outcrop above Aubusson. What remains are a section of the south wall and part of the west wall of the 1470-1475 construction, a rectangular keep wall, the adjoining rampart and the base of the 13th-century square tower. The north tower keeps a ground-floor room with a barrel vault. The masonry is of large pale grey rectangular blocks with putlog holes and narrow projecting buttresses near a vertical corner; window openings pierce the left face and vegetation grows from the broken top edges. A small two-storey house with a steep grey roof stands below the fortification line.

The fortress was built between the 10th and 13th centuries by the Aubusson Viscounts as a stronghold for the region. It was demolished in 1632 on Cardinal Richelieu's orders to prevent it from becoming a center of resistance against royal authority.

The stones from the demolished fortress were reused to build many houses in old Aubusson and the Terrade bridge. This material connection shows how the structure shaped the town's architecture for generations after its destruction.

The ruins sit on an elevated rocky point that is accessible on foot from the town, where you can enjoy views from multiple angles. The site is generally open to explore and requires no special preparations for a visit.

The north tower is the best-preserved part of the ruins, with a barrel-vaulted room on its ground floor. An 18th-century document records that the medieval castle had a rectangular main building flanked by two large round towers, with a square spiral-stair tower projecting from the facade and ditches to the north and west.