Château de Mauvezin

ATTENTION : All of the following information has been provided by the museum. For the moment, they are unable to publish their events calendar online. We therefore suggest that you contact the museum directly for further information.

The château built in the military style of the Middle Ages owes its existence to Gaston Fébus, the sovereign Viscount of Bearn and Count of Foix. He fought long and hard to reclaim the Mauvezin Bigorre château that had been unjustly taken from his family in 1292. He took possession of Mauvezin 1379. It represented an essential component of his extensive Pyrenean Principality. The château had been of great strategic importance between Bigorre and Comminges. Gaston Fébus converted it into an impenetrable fortress : he had built an enormous dungeon gate that was 37 meters high and raised the ramparts and then crowned the walls of the fortress with machicolations from which boiling oil could be poured on enemy attackers. In this way, he could control Bigorre, the major part of the Comminges, Toulouse, la Soule and Bayonne regions. Fébus died in 1391.

This fortress slowly stripped of its stones (especially during the Revolution) was restored at the beginning of the twentieth century by Albin Bibal and the Association “L’Escola Gaston Fébus“ in order to open it to the public and save it from certain ruin. This enabled not only a renovated château to take form but it also helped renew interest in the Occitan language spoken by the entire Gascony and Occitan population. The current association owns the château and seeks to promote the Occitan language and literature as well as Occitan heritage as a whole. “L’Escola” has published a considerable number of Occitan authors both classic and contemporary and has over the past ten years invested its modest means in the restoration and renovation of the château thanks to the help of numerous volunteers. The state has recognised the value its work and its services to the public.

The château comprises 6 furnished rooms as well as a collection of arms and military paraphernalia. Group or individual tours last about an hour and allow visitors to better understand