France · Restored
castle of Montal
Château de Montal
The Château de Montal is a French Renaissance château in Saint-Jean-Lespinasse in the Lot department, classified as a historical monument. Largely transformed in the early 16th century and later restored, it is noted for its sculpted façade busts and steep slate roofs and is open to the public under the Centre des monuments nationaux.
Its prime
1534
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1534
What castle of Montal looked like in its prime.
Long, low Renaissance château of warm-beige limestone set behind a meadow and a belt of mature trees; a prominent cylindrical tower with a steep conical slate roof stands at the left end. A sequence of steep, hipped and gabled roofs rise across the main block, pierced by tall decorated chimneys and polygonal dormers. The principal façade displays a horizontal band of carved stone busts and rectangular mullioned windows; stonework shows dressed ashlar and sculpted ornamentation.
Its story
The story of castle of Montal.
In 1494 a château known as "Saint-Pierre" was acquired by Robert de Balzac, Lord of Entraygues, Chamberlain to Louis XI and Seneschal of Agenais, on his marriage to Antoinette de Castelnau-Caylus. Two years later his daughter Jeanne married Amaury II de Montal, Lord of Laroquebrou, and after Montal's death in 1510 it was Jeanne who transformed the medieval residence into the French Renaissance style between 1519 and 1534, the era of its sculpted façade busts and steep slate roofs.
Through Rose de Montal's marriage to François de Pérusse des Cars, 1st Marquis de Montal, the château passed into the Pérusse des Cars family in the 1590s, where it remained until Count Jean-Jacques de Plas de Tanes acquired it with the seigneury of Montal in 1771.
The 19th century nearly destroyed it: sold to a banker from Saint-Céré, then in 1858 to the property merchant Macaire du Verdier, the château was dismantled in 1880 and its sculpted decorations, doors, skylights and fireplaces sold off, nearly everything but the staircase. In 1908 the industrialist Maurice Fenaille bought it; it was classified a historical monument in 1909 and is open to the public under the Centre des monuments nationaux.
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1534.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at castle of Montal, including 1 interior: main staircase (interior). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Recreate castle of Montal with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held castle of Montal.
The families that held castle of Montal for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Montal
Held by the Montal family from Jeanne de Balsac's 1496 marriage to Amaury II de Montal until the 1590s.
Pérusse des Cars
Held by the Pérusse des Cars family from the 1590s until 1771.
