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OFFICE DE TOURISME DU PAYS DE LALBENQUE | |
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OFFICE DE TOURISME DU PAYS DE LALBENQUE | |
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The Château of Cieurac This renaissance château occupies the site of a former medieval castle built in the 13th century and destroyed in the 15th century on the orders of Louis XIth . the reconstruction, begun about 1480, was completed about 1515. Richelieu had the château razed to the ground to punish Antoine-Hector de Cardaillac for his conversion to protestantism. |
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In 1792, during the revolution, the château was sold as property of the
nation. More recently, in April 1944 the Germans, in reprisal against the resistance, set
fire to the building. Completely restored it was embellished by a french garden in 1989. The Château de Cieurac is open from The 1 June to the 15 September, every day except Monday, from 14h to 18h30. |
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The Château of Hauteserre. North of Cieurac, this château can be admired…and tasted ! In the middle ages the vines of Haute Serre extended over more than one thousand hectares planted on the slopes near Cahors. Then phylloxera destroyed everything. Today the vineyard has regained its former glory. It covers all the top of the ridge around the chateau, presenting to the eye the astonishing contrast of the vines and the white lines of stones between. At the entrance to the property the enormous "chais" ( buildings for vinification and storage ) suggest the pleasures which await. From the château itself, amongst magnificent cedars, the view extends over the vines and the valley of the Tréboulou. Visit of the chais and
slide-show on the vineyard during the season or by appointment.
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The château of Pauliac Pauliac was a priory which depended on the abbey of Lagarde Dieu in the commune of Mirabel in Bas Quercy, this latter founded in 1040. The abbots succeded the seigneurs of Pauliac and came to reside here and it was also a halt on the road to Santiago de Compostella. The extent of the domaine was at that time considerable, encompassing the lands of Haute Serre, of Cayran, and of Pech de Fos. The abbots, who were also priors and seigneurs of Pauliac, were at the same time decimators for 2/3 of the parish of Cieurac and patrons of the parish church of St. Pierre. The ancient entry to the priory of Pauliac is surmounted by a sculpted slab, where a canopy of stone protects an escutcheon divided into two by an abbot's crozier. The present arms are perfectly visible, the crosses and the bells belong to the Raymond family. This family, established in Quercy from remote times, traces its origin to the former counts of Toulouse, one of whom was Pierre de Raymond, a knight of St. John of Jerusalem, commander and administrator of all the commanderies of Quercy. The possessions of the abbey never recovered from the pillage in 1567 by the Calvinists of Montauban. Pauliac also suffered during the wars of religion at the hands of the protestants of Puylaroque. |
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Office de
Tourisme
du Pays de Lalbenque |
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