Before reaching the apartments, one must pass through a veritable airlock, designed as much to impress the visitor as to ensure the security of the premises. The first door, tall and sturdily iron-clad, immediately marks a transition: one leaves the open spaces of the castle to enter a more intimate, more protected area. Once through, the path does not continue freely; a narrow walkway invites you to proceed with caution. In the past, it served as a small drawbridge, raised in case of threat to completely isolate the apartments from the rest of the fortress.

Observing it, one can easily imagine the precautions taken over the centuries: the creaking of the wooden and iron mechanisms, the figures crowding to operate the crank, the guards watching the passage. Today, everything is silent, frozen in time, but the defensive function of this airlock is still evident in every detail. One senses that here, nothing was left to chance: to reach the heart of the residence, one had to prove trustworthy… or not be the enemy.