Fortified Castle and Pyrenean Museum (Lourdes)

 castle, museum, fortification

The fortified Castle and pyrenean museum
The Musée Pyrénéen (Pyrenean Museum) presents the popular Arts and Traditions of the mountain range, in an architectural setting which is a symbol of the history of the town of Lourdes.
Created in 1921
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This castle was successively a military fortress - taken by Charlemagne in 778 (legend), a state prison, the residence of the counts of Bigorre in the 16C and 17C, and has undergone numerous transformations with the passing years: donjon from the 14C, drawbridge restored in the 19C…

However it has been an important military post and remarkable witness to the evolution of fortresses in the Pyrenean Piedmont, from the Middle Ages to our time.
the castle was greatly restored: Vauban’s projects (1685), and modifications by the military Engineers (1828-1856) have given it its present appearance.