Château de Conros

Southern façade

The Château de Conros is a medieval castle, later heavily modified, situated in Arpajon-sur-Cère in the Cantal département of France. It was added to the list of monuments historiques by the French Ministry of Culture on 30 September 1991.^[1]

Description

The castle was recorded in 1230 as a super novo edificio, later as a repario, and in 1269 as a castrum.

The present building has several distinct parts: the north tower (the oldest), the south tower, a rectangular two-floored residence, a pavilion wing with lantern covering forming a dovecote. The whole is surmounted by another floor supported on corbels.

The château incorporates sections from various periods. There are elements from the 13th century in the cellars and ground floor and from the 15th century on the first floor. The bulk dates from the 16th century, with heavy remodelling in the 17th century to the upper floors, notably the Imperial dome.

• On the first floor is a 15th century chimney from the Château de Branzac which is entirely painted. This chimney owes its decoration to artists brought from Italy by Camille Carracioli, a Neapolitain princess, wife of the lord of Branzac (1570).
• The staircase has landings opening onto the steps through two round arches jointly supported on columns with Doric or Ionic capitals. Each landing is covered by a rib vault.^[2]

The stone covered roof has a surface area of 1200 m². There are 70 windows, some of which retain their 18th century woodwork.

See also

• List of castles in France

Bibliography

• Jean-Baptiste de Ribier du Châtelet, Dictionnaire statistique, ou Histoire, description et statistique du département du Cantal, Aurillac, 1852
• Roger Grand, "Les chartes de franchises de la Roquebrou (1281-1282) et de Conros 1317", (32pp) in Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques. Bulletin historique et philologique, année 1902, n° 1 and 2.

References

1. ^ * Ministry of Culture database entry for Château de Conros (French)
2. ^ From the description of Monuments historiques.

This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the French Wikipedia.

External links

• Ministry of Culture listing
• Official site

Coordinates: 44°52′46″N 2°25′15″E / 44.87944°N 2.42083°E / 44.87944; 2.42083