Castle of La Barben
La Barben Castle is located in the village of the same name, a few kilometers east of Salon-de-Provence, in the Provence Region (Bouches-du-Rhone).
It is initially a high defensive castle raised on the foundations of a castrum on rocks, protecting land belonging to the Saint Victor Abbey in Marseilles..
Elements of the medieval fortress have been preserved (watchtowers, crenellations, machicolations, loopholes).
However, over the centuries and changes of owners (a time possession of King René, it then passed into the lap of the Forbin family to which we owe the annexion of Provence to the Crown of France in 1482), reworkings and additions were made. In 1630, following a popular revolt about a tax reform, Richelieu condemned the rioters to compensate the lords of La Barben who took the opportunity to build a new main building within the walls. Of classical style and more comfortable, today castle forms with the previous bases a set of original character.
In the castle, sixty rooms reflect these different periods with decorations ranging from the Renaissance (Aubusson tapestries) to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Cordoba leathers and gypseries of the eighteenth, frescoes).
A French garden that has been designed by Le Nôtre with river, ponds, fountains, adjoins the building, the whole being classed as historical monuments since 1984.