Allier is the department of the historic Bourbonnais region, the birthplace of the Bourbon dynasty, which gave France and Europe a royal line whose representatives reigned on the French throne from Henry IV to Charles X, and whose descendants still occupy the thrones of Spain and Luxembourg today. This founding nobility has left an exceptional mark on the castle-filled landscape of the Allier.
Moulins, the former capital of the Duchy of Bourbon and the departmental capital, retains some traces of the dukes’ splendour, notably in Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Anne-de-Beaujeu Museum, which occupies the former ducal palace. Bourbon-l’Archambault, the birthplace of the royal family with its medieval ruins, Jaligny-sur-Besbre, Lapalisse — the Renaissance château of the Chabannes family — and Hérisson with its ruined château overlooking the River Aumance bear witness to the Bourbonnais heritage.
The Bourbonnais bocage, with its wet meadows and hedgerows, is one of the best-preserved agricultural landscapes in the Massif Central, offering a harmonious natural setting in which the department’s châteaux and manor houses are set.