Château de Castelnaud

Castelnaud Castle was built as a rival to Beynac on the other side of the Dordogne. The first documents date from the 13th century, from the time of the Albigensian Crusade, when the Cathar constable Bernard de Casnac held it. Simon de Montfort took the castle and left a garrison; Bernard retook it and had the garrison hanged. During the Hundred Years War the lords of Castelnaud sided with the English. The castle later fell into decay and was a ruin by the Revolution.

The sights include the massive, metre-thick walls, the 13th-century keep and the 16th-century artillery tower (reached by dark stairs). The museum displays daggers, halberds, early cannon and large crossbows; from the upper terrace you look across the Dordogne valley to Beynac, about 4 km to the north.

Today the restored castle is privately owned and houses a museum of medieval warfare with reconstructed siege engines such as mangonels and trebuchets; there are demonstrations of the large trebuchets and of a forge. It is a Monument historique. A guidebook mentions evening tours and staged battles from mid-July to August; check opening times and demonstrations beforehand (as of October 2026). Allow two to three hours.