Château du Bousquet was built in the 14th century. Today it hosts a museum of ancient art from the Middle Ages to the present day. The castle has very well-preserved sample of late medieval architecture (furnished interior, furniture, objects, paintings).
The castle, which belonged for four centuries to the Roquefeuil-Blanquefort family, comprises six towers (two hexagonal in the middle of the two front and rear facades, four rounds at each corner). The central tower of the south facade, which contains the staircase is pierced on the ground floor of a radiating Gothic door. The typically feudal and defensive character of the castle is somewhat mitigated by the existence of later windows on the three floors. The defensive system which surrounded it (enclosure, ditch, fortifications) disappeared, replaced by two wings in the 17th century. Inside, the ground floor has kept its kitchen intact, with the mesh stage where the musicians were based. The chapel retains a decoration painted by Debert in 1709.
Saint-Émilion is a picturesque medieval village renowned for its well-preserved architecture and vineyards. The town and surrounding vineyards was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, owing to its long, living history of wine-making, Romanesque churches and ruins stretching all along steep and narrow streets.
An oppidum was built on the hill overlooking the present-day city in Gaulish times, before the regions was annexed by Augustus in 27 BC. The Romans planted vineyards in what was to become Saint-Émilion as early as the 2nd century. In the 4th century, the Latin poet Ausonius lauded the fruit of the bountiful vine.
Because the region was located on the route of the Camino de Santiago, many monasteries and churches were built during the Middle Ages, and in 1199, while under Plantagenet rule, the town was granted full rights.