Château de Belcastel, Castle in Lacave, France

Château de Belcastel stands on a limestone cliff about 55 metres above the confluence of the Dordogne and the Ouysse, in the commune of Lacave. The buildings along the cliff edge combine a dwelling from the late 18th or early 19th century with a 15th-century keep; a round tower is built into the long main building, and a separate chapel stands a few metres away at the cliff edge.

Adhémar de Turenne, viscount of the Échelles (898–941), built the castle; his will of 930 left it to the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Martin de Tulle under the name Castrum etiam bellum. In 1105 Pope Paschal II confirmed the chapel of Belcastel and the surrounding churches as possessions of Tulle. The chapel, mentioned in a charter of 1154, was rebuilt from the 14th century and restored in the 16th.

The name Belcastel derives from the Latin Castrum etiam bellum, "castle still beautiful", used in Adhémar de Turenne's 930 testament. The castle is private and cannot be visited. Several scenes of Georges Lautner's 1972 film Quelques messieurs trop tranquilles were shot here, the castle playing the château de la Comtesse.

The castle is private property and cannot be visited; it is reached from the RD 43 in Lacave. The GR 6 long-distance footpath passes below it to the south, on the slope above the confluence of the Dordogne and the Ouysse. The buildings stand on a cliff about 55 m above the rivers, within a 138-hectare listed site.

In April 1988 a prehistoric site was found on an alluvial terrace of the Ouysse directly below the castle, revealing seven levels, some rich in bones and tools mainly from the Middle Magdalenian. Several scenes of Georges Lautner's 1972 film Quelques messieurs trop tranquilles were shot at the castle, which plays the château de la Comtesse.