A model of the Château de Dourdan when first built, as can be seen at the castle museum[1]
The fortification is characteristic of the military architecture of this period. It is built on a square pattern, with towers at three of the corners and an isolated donjon at the fourth. The walls are punctuated by towers in the middle of each side, and two, on the east side, flank the gatehouse. A deep stone-lined dry moat follows the outline of the castle.
The donjon, the major defensive component of the castle, measures approximately 30 metres in height and 13.6 metres in diameter. It is typical of the donjons being built by King Philip II Augustus of France at this time, like at Rouen and other French nobility throughout the 13th century.
The conception of the geometric pattern and isolated donjon was similar to that of the castle of the Louvre. A near identical castle is found at Seringes-et-Nesles, department of Aisne in northern France.
The châtellenie of Dourdan was part of the Crown lands of France (Domaine royal) from the 10th century. The present fortress was built at the request of Philip Augustus in the 1220s in the place of a wood structure.
At the end of the 17th century, the Château de Dourdan was given to the Duke of Orléans who turned it into a prison. The donjon was used as a prison until 1852. It now houses a museum of local history.
Gallery
Outline plan of the castle with its isolated keep.
The walls around the castle of Dourdan.
An illuminated page from Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, the month of April, featuring an image of the Château de Dourdan c. 1400.
