Ruined Stone Château Tower on Plateau

Château on the plateau

From a distance, the Fortress of Polignac seems to sprout from an impossibly huge tree stump. Rather than a petrified hunk of trunk, this plateau is actually a stout column of volcanic basalt that, from the 10th century on, has hosted a series of keeps. Before the Polignac noble family seized the spot, wood structures defended this high position. By the 14th century, the Polignacs had converted it into a stone compound with a 105-foot tower, dominating the village skyline to this day. Additions continued until the nobility met its fate in the French Revolution, after which the once-proud palace was quarried for its stone blocks. A few decades later, the Polignacs managed to buy it back, partly restoring the ruin before its designation as a historic monument.