Château fort de Lourdes

Built on a rocky peak, the fortress of Lourdes, in the Hautes-Pyrénées, dominates the town and the entrance to the seven valleys of the Lavedan. In turn the main residence of the Count of Bigorre (11th-12th centuries), a medieval fortress (13th-16th centuries) and a royal prison (17th-18th centuries), it underwent many transformations over the centuries: an early hall, a Romanesque chapel and fortified gates, a 14th-century keep, a gun platform and a drawbridge.

It remained a first-rank military post until the 19th century. It is a remarkable witness to the evolution of fortifications in the Pyrenean foothills, from the Middle Ages to the Second Empire.

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