 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Tour Mélusine" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Mélusine tower | |
|---|---|
| Native name Tour Mélusine (French) | |
 The Tour Mélusine | |
| Location | Place du Bail 85120Vouvant |
| Height | 45 m |
| Built | End of the 12th or beginning of 13th century |
| Governing body | Town ofVouvant |
| Official name | Enceinte fortifiée de Vouvant |
| Designated | 1927 |
  Location of Mélusine tower in France | |
TheTour Mélusine is thekeep of a formercastle in the commune ofVouvant in thedépartement ofVendée inFrance.[1]
This keep and watchtower, built at the end of the 12th century or the beginning of the 13th century[2] (very often dated 1242,[3] even if this is probably wrong because of architectural techniques and features[4]), is the only vestige of the ancient castle of theLords of Lusignan built in the present location of the "Place du Bail". This castle was separated from the fortified town of Vouvant by amoat. 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 fairyMelusine "de trois dornées de pierres et d'une goulée d'Ève" ("from three apronfuls of stones and a mouthful of water").[3]
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 (a square tower with round towers at each corner).[5]
The keep has a square base, which indicates the height of thecurtain wall that surrounded the courtyard of the castle, which is today the Place du Bail ("bail" meaning "fortified enclosure").
The tower has been protected as amonument historique by theFrench Ministry of Culture since 1927.[1]
The Tour Mélusine consists of a total of five levels:[6]
46°34′25″N0°46′20″W / 46.573701°N 0.772196°W /46.573701; -0.772196