The Ardèche is a department of mountains and gorges, situated between the Massif Central and the Rhône Valley, criss-crossed by capricious rivers that have carved spectacular canyons out of the limestone, of which the Ardèche Gorges are the most famous example. This land of contrasts, ranging from the windswept high plateaus of the Mézenc and the Ardèche Mountains to the Mediterranean vineyards of the Côtes du Rhône, boasts a modest yet authentic heritage of castles.
Largentière, the former capital of the viscounty of the same name; Rochemaure, whose ruined castle overlooks the Rhône from its basalt outcrop; the Château de Boulogne; Aubenas, with its castle converted into a town hall… The castles of the Ardèche bear witness to the turbulent history of a department marked by the Wars of Religion — Vivarais was a Protestant stronghold — and by the Cévennes revolts of the Camisards.
The Chauvet Cave, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its 36,000-year-old cave paintings, reminds us that the Ardèche has been inhabited and adorned since time immemorial, long before the medieval castles that the limestone cliffs bear like crowns above the verdant gorges.