The Chateau of Belesta Museum is a museum of the prehistory of the department of Pyrenees Orientales.
Fortified by Louis IX, the castle is perched on a limestone massif north of Ile-sur-Tet and dominates the charming village of Belesta. It is located between the valleys of the Agly and the Tet.
From the top of the chateau terrace we have a superb 360 view over the surrounding hills and the village
For a long time, from 1258 (the treaty of Corbeil) to 1659 (the treaty of the Pyrenees) it was at the geographical border between the kingdoms of France and Aragon
The museum is situated in the Chateau, which has been entirely restored. In it one can discover the collections collected from the archeological site of the Belesta cave and one of the three interpretation centers of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh (CRM) en Roussillon Association
To know more about the Chateau Museum of Belesta and the CRM center of Belesta
Each year a temporary exhibition is organised.
The inauguration of the new exhibition “Investigation a Caramany. Archeolgy of the medieval population of the village of Horto in the Fenouilledes” took place on Saturday 18th September 2021, in the presence of Louis Baills, President of the Chateau Museum of Belesta, Tarek Kuteni, Director of the Chateau, the mayor of the commune of belesta, Frederic Bournioleet, Charles Chivillo, President of the commission for culture and heritage
The inaugural talk, presented in the hall at the Chateau entrance, was followed by a brilliant and passionate expose by the person responsible for excavations, Mr. Olivier Passarrius (doctor of history, archeologist responsible for the departmental archeological center).
This explanation plunged the audience into the passionate world of archaeology, of the archaeology of medieval sites and the interpretation of discoveries.
Afterwards, the participants followed the guided visit to the exhibition dedicated to these discoveries.
The excavations
It is since 2018 that the Pyrenees Orientales Department has undertaken preventive archaeological excavations on the ancient and medieval site of Horto, in the town of Caramany, on the edge of the reservoir on the Agly.
The most recent necropolis, dated from XIIth and XIIIth centuries are totally atypique. The sculptures (more than 300) are installed on an old road supported by a terrace wall. On at least 160 linear meters, the deceased, all of the region, women, men, children of all ages, buried in a simple way, without funereal monument and without ornament.
The organisation of these sculptures and the morphology of this necropolis and the type of “tomb” – the length of a road, are unique for this period.
For more information click on the following link on site actu.fr
We invite you to discover this passionate exhibition which traces the unearthing and presents the results of excavations and also the innovative investigative techniques used, which is registered in the centre of the museum of prehistory
This visit could be the occasion to discover or rediscover the interpretation center of Charles Rennie Mackintosh en Roussillon, in the Chateau Museum of Prehistory
