Photo : Wikimedia Commons
Château de Cognac
The château de Cognac, also called château des Valois or château François Ier, overlooks the Charente in the heart of the town. A first castrum is attested there around 950. The Black Prince made it one of his residences between 1366 and 1370. John of Valois, count of Angoulême, restored it from 1450, and his grandson Francis I was born there in 1494; a new wing was added around 1517.
Dilapidated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, used as a prison, sold as national property, it was bought in 1795 by the merchants Otard and Dupuy, who set up their wine stores there. It still belongs to the Otard cognac house and still ages brandies. It has been listed as a historic monument since 1925.
You notice the twin towers of 1499–1500, the façade with the "King's balcony" adorned with medallions, the tower of Count John and its rare medieval baths, as well as the Governor's lodging and the helmet room.
