The best city hikes and walks in Forêt De Saint-Arnoult

The original 13th-century wooden hall housed a royal courtroom on its upper floor where civil, judicial, feudal, and forestry cases were tried until the 18th century.

The Halle de Dourdan is a 19th-century market hall built in 1836 that replaced a medieval wooden structure dating from around 1228. Measuring 38 meters long and 14 meters wide, this impressive building features two pavilions at each end connected by a central aisle divided into seven bays. The hall serves as the heart of Dourdan's community life, hosting the weekly Wednesday and Saturday markets as well as annual festivals including the Medieval Festival in June and the Saint-Félicien Festival in September.

The fortress once held up to 300 prisoners simultaneously, as recorded in revolutionary period prison registers when it served as a royal prison.

Dourdan Castle is a 13th-century fortress built by King Philip Augustus between 1220-1222, representing the pinnacle of "Philippian" military architecture with its square plan, defensive towers, and isolated donjon. The castle holds significant historical importance as the birthplace of Hugh Capet, the first Capetian king of France, whose father built an earlier wooden fortress on the site. Throughout its history, the castle served various roles including royal residence, hunting lodge, prison, and military barracks before being restored as a historical monument in 1964.

Its dimensions are impressive: 38 meters long and 14 meters wide! The first hall of Dourdan built in the 13th century consisted of a vast wooden frame. It was enlarged in 1480 and 1486. Until the 18th century, a royal audience stood upstairs where civil, judicial, feudal and forest offenses were judged. Due to its dilapidation, it was decided in 1829 to demolish the hall and build a new one, the one you see today.

Well, the first comment is perfectly fine... At the historic monument in 1964...

The Château de Dourdan is an old fortified castle dating from the 13th century. The remains stand in the former province of Hurepoix, the current town of Dourdan in the department of Essonne, forty-six kilometers south-west of Paris. Completed around 1222 by Philippe Auguste, this castle succeeded a wooden building dating from Hugues Capet. The plan is regular with a wide moat, round towers, a defensive gatehouse, a vast central courtyard bordered by the royal residence and a chapel. Dourdan is one of the only fortresses in the Ile-de-France region that has retained most of its structures: keep, towers, dry ditches...

Dourdan Castle, completed around 1222 by Philippe Auguste, succeeded a wooden building dating from Hugues Capet. It is the culmination of the so-called Philippian system which is characterized by a regular plan, a wide ditch, round towers at the angles, the most important of which is the main tower, three flanking towers, a defensive entrance gate, a vast courtyard. central bordered by the royal residence and a chapel. In Ile-de-France, Dourdan is one of the only 13th century fortresses that has retained most of its structures: keep, towers, dry ditches ...