Ajat: Château, Churches and Landscape

Ajat is a hillside village on the edge of the Causse and the Forêt Barade forest. The village also offers a panorama; its buildings reflect a variety of historical and architectural themes. For planning your trip, this means you can focus on the landscape, architectural history or a mountain biking route dedicated to the area’s heritage. If you’d like to compare architecture, you can look at the château and churches and their respective features; if you’d rather explore by bike, the Boucle d’Ajat offers its own perspective on the village’s heritage.

Château and Churches: Different Architectural Forms

The château of Ajat consists of two residential wings connected by a gallery with a pavilion. The gallery encloses a courtyard, connecting the wings while also defining the space of the courtyard. A decree dated 8 June 1925 protects the château as a historic monument. The Church of Saint-Martin is also important to Ajat’s architectural history: it dates from the 12th century and was originally connected to the château.

A destroyed bay once connected Saint-Martin to one of the château’s towers. The apse is adorned with arcades resting on small columns; the bell-tower wall has four openings and stands 25 metres high. The church floor covers numerous graves, including the tomb of François de Hautefort. A decree dated 25 April 1925 protects Saint-Martin as a historic monument. Several layers of the village’s history can therefore be seen: the 12th-century church, its former architectural connection to the château, and the tomb of François de Hautefort.

The Church of Bauzens was classified as a protected historic monument by a decree dated 25 August 1909. Its western portal is beneath a projecting arch, above which are three arcades. Two monolithic columns support sculpted capitals. Monolithic describes a building element carved from a single block of stone; here, the capitals are also sculpted. The portal therefore offers a chance to look at both its structure of arch and arcades and the details of the columns.

The Church of Saint-Barthélemy in Bauzens was first mentioned in 1120 and is considered one of the oldest churches in the Périgord. Part of its nave has no ceiling. Those interested in church architecture will find several kinds of details here: an articulated portal structure and a distinctive form of nave.

Local History and Heritage

The Route des Canons also offers a historical way to discover Ajat. Suzanne Lacore’s house in Ajat is part of this route. Under Léon Blum, Suzanne Lacore became the first woman to hold the position of under-secretary of state. Ajat was closely connected to the Route des Canons through the de Hautefort family; the route was associated with the establishment of the Forge d’Ans. The village’s history thus offers two distinct threads: the biographical story of Suzanne Lacore and the historical connection between the de Hautefort family, the Route des Canons and the Forge d’Ans.

The Boucle d’Ajat mountain biking route is designed to help visitors discover Ajat’s heritage. It offers a different way to engage with the area than focusing on individual buildings: the buildings bring their architectural features to the fore, while the route combines heritage with cycling.

Discover more destinations: Chassaignes, Saint-Félix-De-Villadeix, Champeaux-Et-La-Chapelle-Pommier, La Chapelle-Aubareil, Cours-De-Pile, Thonac, Lanquais, Boisse.

For the broader travel overview: Dordogne.