The fortress was dismantled by King Louis XI in the 15th century, then rebuilt by Anne de Montmorency in the 16th, and destroyed again in the 17th upon orders of Richelieu because it had become a Protestant fief. Present restoration has been undertaken since 1991. The path leading up to the firtress is flanked by a village with a church, chapels and shops. Some of the houses are cave dwellings dug into the rock.