Fourques : Castle

The castle, which is at the intersection of the Aurélienne path from Rome and the Dominitian track leading to the Pyrenees, was probably built on the basics of a Roman "Castellum", which has become a villa or a fortified mansion. It was designed in square shape with crenellated ramparts and four towers at the corners. Some stones of the west facade could go back to Roman times, but in general, the outer enclosure seems to date from the 12th century. It was surrounded by a large ditch, crossed by a bridge at the main entrance to the west. The four square towers, crenellated, sheltered at different levels of the guard rooms with Archères. These towers were partially demolished, and those to the west were covered at the beginning of the 17th century with a cap in cap. Part of the building was added in the 15th century against the north wall, with a door and a staircase which seem to have been rebuilt at the time of Louis XIII. In the courtyard, there is a well whose margelle, decorated with a semicircular arc and flanked by two columns, also dates from the 15th century. The building was partially destroyed in 1792 during a riot in Arles which later spread.