“The guided tour is divided into two parts: the first looks at the Cathar history of Montségur, and the second the architecture of the castle and Cathar remains (about 1hr 10min). During my guided tour, you will be taken back through time to the days when Raymond de Péreille, the local lord, stood up to the King of France and the Pope for forty years. You will be carried away to the heart of the fighting during the siege in 1243-1244 and end – moved – with the last days of the Cathars of Montségur and their terrible demise, burnt at the stake on 16 March 1244. I will give you the elements you will need to visualise these buildings spread regularly around an inner courtyard. You will discover with me the principle of the keep with its first floor entrance giving on to a wood-framed balcony. Doors, posterns, curtain walls, water tanks and ramparts – at the end of the visit, they will hold no secrets for you.”

Fabrice Chambon – Guide on the Montségur site