AIA Fieldwork Photo Contest 2022

Entry 51878

Submitted by Hayley Norton

Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers

Les Trois-Moutiers, Vienne, France

Category: Monuments

Originally dating to the 13th C, the castle was a stronghold of the Bauçay family, lords of Loudun. It was taken several times by the English during the Hundred Years' War and devastated during the French Revolution, before being bought in the 19th Century and used as a hunting lodge and party palace by industrialists before succumbing to fire in 1932 and consequently being abandoned. Since 2017 it has been the subject of a community restoration project - with the aim to preserve the ruins as well as the flora and fauna who now call the castle home. I was fortunate to visit on a calm, crisp day this past autumn and capture the castle ruins in their current state of solitary serenity.

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