Château de La Roche-Guyon

A true landmark in the landscape, the keep stands as guardian of the Château de La Roche-Guyon and the centuries of history it has seen pass by. Built around 1190, this keep was quickly completed with two enclosures, the whole being finished in the first years of the thirteenth century. You have to imagine it far more imposing than it is today. About twenty metres high now, it was over thirty originally and overlooked the Seine valley while keeping a watchful eye on the plateau side, towards the Epte valley and nearby Normandy. Unchanged for centuries, the keep suffered greatly during the Revolution. On 2 October 1793, the general council of Seine-et-Oise ordered its destruction: the site could become dangerous if counter-revolutionaries took it. But it was also a symbol of the nobility and monarchy that was being attacked. The keep was not completely dismantled but suffered the bombardments of the Second World War, which contributed to its erosion. The only way to reach the keep is the underground staircase cut into the cliff, which links the lower castle to the upper one. Its layout suggests it was dug by two teams heading towards each other. Allow nearly 250 steps to reach the inner courtyard at the foot of the keep. Rounded towards the valley, it tapers into a spur towards the plateau, in the shape of an almond. The tower is indeed reinforced on the side from which it was likely to be attacked. The cliff provided natural protection. The keep measures nearly twelve metres in diameter on the outside. The walls are thus on average three metres thick. The spur is four metres wide.

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