Château Dreaming

Occitanie · Aude, France

Château de Quéribus

A single bold tower on a rock needle above Cucugnan, visible for thirty kilometres — the last refuge of the Cathar church, whose final deacons sheltered here until the castle fell in 1255, over a decade after Montségur. Another of the 'five sons of Carcassonne' watching the Roussillon frontier.

Château de Quéribus
Photo: BlueBreezeWiki · CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

At a glance

Built
11th–13th centuries; remodelled under the French crown
Style
Pinnacle fortress
Commissioned by
Counts of Besalú and Barcelona; French crown
Signature feature
Polygonal keep with a palm-vaulted Gothic hall, on a bare rock pinnacle
Cathar history
Last organised refuge of Catharism; taken in 1255
Rank
One of the 'five sons of Carcassonne'
The view
From Canigou to the Mediterranean on a clear day
Visiting
Open to visitors (weather permitting)