Musée de la Guerre au Moyen Âge

Located in the 13th-century Château de Castelnaud, this museum displays over 250 medieval weapons and armor, along with life-size reconstructions of siege engines.

Planning your visit

Castelnaud is a thirteenth-century fortress on a cliff above the Dordogne, and it faces Beynac across the river — the two castles held opposite sides during the Hundred Years' War, English and French, in direct sight of one another. That confrontation is the reason the museum inside is about medieval warfare.

The collection holds over 250 weapons and pieces of armour, covering swords, crossbows, polearms and plate, with explanation of how armour and the weapons designed to defeat it developed in step. Full-size reconstructions of siege engines stand on the terraces — trebuchet, mangonel, bricole — built from period sources, and demonstrations run in season.

The castle itself is the other half: ramparts, towers, a keep, and a view over one of the more spectacular stretches of the Dordogne valley, with the river curving below and Beynac visible upstream.

It sits in the Périgord Noir, near Sarlat and the prehistoric sites of the Vézère. Allow two hours. The main booking is an admission ticket. Current availability is listed below.