CASTLE HENRI IV

ALBRET, GROUND OF THE MEN
The name of Albret, the occitan Labrit - small village of the Landes, cradle of the family of Henri IV - is also that of a country of contrast and generosity. It opens in the west on the forest landanian, in the east on the slopes of Néracais and order in the south the doors of Gascogne gersoise.
The museum recalls the life of the men and the conquest of this fertile ground, bathed by Gelise and Baïse: dolmens at the skirt of landanian forest until the most prestigious Gallo-Roman villas: fields of ballot boxes from the Age of iron to the fabulous battle of Sos to sit the conquest of César... Discover the roots of a ground of history.

NERAC, GASCON ATHENS OF THE RENAISSANCE
Under the reign of Marguerite of Angouleme and Jeanne d' Albret her daughter, Nérac becomes a cultural and spiritual hearth, a refuge for the great minds of the Reform, accommodating Clément Marot who find there "an asylum softer than freedom" and Jean Calvin who makes a stage before joining Génève.
Henri de Navarre, future Henri IV, sets it up as a true political captain. Fleeing the Louvre, he finds in August 1576 the castle of his childhood and during six years, lives there surrounded by thinkers and writers (Agrippa d’ Aubignée, Duplessis, Ravignan), diplomats and courtiers. Find, comparable with that of the Louvre, the spirit of a court where mix humanistic ideas, joys of the table, hunting, music and Italian comedy, before traversing the park of Garenne created by his wife, the queen Margot. You will meet there Fleurette, allured by the "gallant Green" and died of love, says one, drowned in Baïse.

THE CASTLE, RESIDENCE OF THE KINGS
In the heart of the historical city of Nérac, this residence of lords built between XIVth and XVIth century testify to the apogee of the family of Albret. Heirs of the crown of Navarre, then of France, Albret made of Nérac one of their favorite residences along with Pau.
Constituted of four flanked wings with four round towers, the castle dominates Baïse from the top of its broad ditches. At the following day of the Revolution, only remains the splendid northern wing and its elegant gallery in corbelling with twisted columns and carved capitals, built by Alain Le Grand of Albret between 1470 and 1522.
Classified Historic building since 1862, Eugene Viollet-the-Duke will project his restoration to place the new Town hall there. The castle will be finally rehabilitated in the years 1920 to accomodate, since 1934, the municipal museum.