TALLARD CASTLE
Castle with enclosure, curtain wall, guard room, flamboyant gothic chapel, fresco showing a Napoleonic soldier.
Unavoidable, this castle has undergone a major campaign of work since 2017 to enhance this heritage home to many treasures. Visits will resume this year 2020. Access to the castle is via a few paved alleys, along medieval remains and ramparts (Durance gate, 13th century), to discover a majestic site overlooking the village and the Durance valley. Although quite ruined, especially the seigneurial dwelling, with its towers and collapsed walls, this 14th and 16th century building retains its enclosure, its curtain wall, its vast guard room and its flamboyant Gothic style Saint-Jean chapel. The interior decoration of this chapel (stained-glass windows, painted motifs, lancets and sculpted columns depicting the coats of arms of successive lords) is quite remarkable. It also houses a fresco depicting a Napoleonic soldier, reminding us that Tallard is a stopover on the famous Napoleon road (RN85).
