Saved from ruins, one of the oldest fortified castles in the Dordogne comes back to life

A testament to the first stone constructions, the thousand-year-old Château de Salignac has been restored to its 15th-century version for two decades by the Starckmann family. While over the years, almost all of the castle's rooms have been presented to the public, the roof and especially the fragile keep require 1.5 million euros to be preserved.

It 's not the most visited site in the Périgord Noir, far from it. With 8,000 visitors a year, Salignac Castle is more of a Tom Thumb among the medieval fortresses that dot the region. And yet.

Open to the public for only the fifth year, this is one of the most unique places in the Dordogne. In 1969, the building's facades and roofs, the ramparts, and the ground were listed as Historic Monuments. In relative terms, it's reminiscent of the construction site of Guédelon Castle in Burgundy. Except that here, the construction site is taking place on an authentic site. It's led by a father and son, supported for the past few years by a handful of volunteers, with three to five participatory projects per year.

"We've embarked on a project whose end we won't see. We also know that we'll never live in it."

"We've embarked on a project that will never end. We also know we'll never live in it," says Edward Starckmann, who, along with his father Rémi, bought the château in 2006 from the Salignac-Fénelon family (read more). The idea is to restore it to its former glory in the 15th century, marked by "the last major works in this pre-Renaissance era."

With a lordship extending as far as Larche (Corrèze), "it was a more important place than many castles today," says Edward Starckmann. The 44-year-old engineer, who lives in Strasbourg, spends all his holidays here. "You don't take advantage of it... Unless you like castles!"

A particularity of this stronghold of the Viscounty of Turenne is its attachment to Quercy, even if "Raymond and Antoine de Salignac were appointed seneschals of Périgord" in the 1450s and 1470s. Another specificity: part of the castle's history remains to be written. "Some archives have disappeared," the co-owner reiterates, while another part is waiting to be exploited at the National Archives. A castle whose first mention dates back to the years "1010-1020 thanks to relics extracted from a church in Sarlat, which passed through Salignac and which cite the existence of a castle and a market."

A millennium later, it's a titanic undertaking that father and son have taken on. They are trying to revive "one room per year," not to mention the furniture, like this four-poster bed assembled by Rémi Starckmann himself.

The four rooms opened to the public in 2021 are already a distant memory. Today, 14 rooms are open to the public, covering almost the entire 800 m² of the main building. The latest renovation to date: the ceremonial or reception room, adorned with plasterwork depicting 15th-century geometric patterns, inspired by those of Chillon Castle in Switzerland.

The urgent task remains to save the keep, which was probably built from the 11th century onwards. "It's our greatest tragedy," sighs Edward Starckmann, pointing to the tarpaulin covering the top of the razed square tower. At 16 meters high, it had been raised two additional floors. The sum needed to save it: "nearly a million euros."

The second priority is the removal of a steel tray that replaced a weakened roof in 2023, which was carrying 300 tons of slate. This particularity brings a smile to the owner's face, who relates the existence of a 17th-century document proving that the roof was then covered with slate. The estimated cost of the work: €500,000. That's a total of nearly €1.5 million, subsidizable "up to 35%." In addition to support from the public who visit the site, the family is eyeing private sponsorship. This is another battle that begins.

Open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Guided tours Monday to Friday at 11 a.m. with Edward Starckmann on restoration and at 3 p.m. with Laura Lassalle on medieval history. Prices: €9 for adults; €4 for ages 12 to 18, free for children under 12. New: nighttime lantern tours on July 17, August 7 and 21.