Château d'Arques

The Château d'Arques (Languedocien: Castèl d’Arcas) is a ruined 14th-century castle in the commune of Arques in the Aude département of France.

In 1284, Gilles de Voisins began work on building a castle, with the intention of defending the Rialsès valley and controlling the transhumance routes leading to the Corbières Massif.

The almost square enceinte (51m by 55m) encircles the castle with a gateway furnished with machicolation and surmounted with a keystone bearing the arms of the Voisin family ("De gueules à trois fusées d'or en fasce, accompagnées en chef d'un lambel à quatre pendant de même").

The square keep, 25 m high, is a work of military architecture inspired by castles in the Ile de France.

Forty soldiers could defend it thanks to numerous murder holes and rectangular bays set symmetrically into the walls.