Tour Mélusine


The Tour Mélusine is the keep of a former castle in the commune of Vouvant in the département of Vendée in France.

History

This keep and watchtower, built at the end of the 12th century or the beginning of the 13th century, is the only vestige of the ancient castle of the Lords of Lusignan built in the present location of the "Place du Bail". This castle was separated from the fortified town of Vouvant by a moat. A chapel, long gone, was leaning against the tower.
Like all of the Lusignan's castles, legend holds that it was built in a single night by the fairy Melusine "de trois dornées de pierres et d'une goulée d'Ève".
This tower, 45 m high from the ditch and with its cylindrical shape, is original from that time. Indeed, the majority of the castles of this region and of this time are of the "Niortais" style.
The keep has a square base, which indicates the height of the curtain wall that surrounded the courtyard of the castle, which is today the Place du Bail.
The tower has been protected as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1927.

Architecture

The Tour Mélusine consists of a total of five levels :