Basic notions
The walls of the Castle of Montclar rise up above the remains of an ancient Roman tower. An inscription on the facade says it was re-built in 1635. However, documented historians date its origins back to 981, which makes it the oldest fortress in the area.
The last time it was restored was in 1970, and it was declared Historic Artistic Monument in 1979. Its walls seem to tell everything that has befallen in the course of history.
The oldest sections are the first floor and the main tower of the ancient keep, over which the newer fortress was founded. Thus it is possible, by looking at the building stones (called 'witness stones'), to make out its construction stages: from the floor to a height of some 4 metres we can see the 13th century section; the rest, up to the top, dates from the 14th century.
The castle was originally built to serve as a defensive fortress. Later on it became the manor castle of the feudal lords, around which the peasants that worked on the fief lands or in the castle built their houses. Sure enough, being the only ones allowed to carry weapons, the nobles were obliged to let in the whole village folk inside the castle when it happened to be raided.
