The explorer and astronomer Antoine Abbadie (1810-1897) commissioned Viollet-le-Duc to build him a castle that would suit his taste for the Middle Ages and science. This amazing Neo-Gothic building, boasting crenelated towers and pepperpot roofs, is in a beautiful exotic park. The rooms are painted, decorated with frescoes and buffalo hides. The great room, painted in blue, features the explorer’s monogram. The observatory has a meridian telescope that was used by astronomer priests until 1975.