The Château de Pau (, ) is a castle in the centre of the city of Pau, the capital of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Béarn. It dominates that quarter of the city. Henry IV of France and Navarre was born here on December 13, 1553, and it was once used by Napoleon as a holiday home during his period of power. The château has been classified as a Monument historique since 1840 by the French Ministry of Culture. Nowadays, as the Musée national du Château de Pau, it contains a collection of tapestries. History Origins Pau Castle was founded in the Middle Ages. First and foremost a military structure, it is a typical fortified castle built on top of the hill overlooking the Gave bounded by the Hédas ravine. Since its construction, the castle has taken on a symbolic importance: possessing a stockade of piles (pau, in Béarnese), it designates, by metonymy, the city itself. These piles, symbolizing loyalty and righteousness, are each like axis mundi in a Béarnese version. In the twelfth century Gaston IV of Béarn built three towers at the fortress. They are called Mazères, Billère and Montauser. Gaston Fébus The fourteenth century was troublesome as the region was torn between the competing claims of the powerful warring enemy kingdoms of France and England. In contrast, the local lords sought to make Béarn united and independent, under a sovereign count. Such a man was the formidable Gaston III, Count of Foix, better known as Gaston Fébus (also spelt Phoebus). He greatly reinforced the fortress's defences and added a new 33-metre-high brick tower, defiantly inscribed in Béarnaise: "Febus me fe" (Fébus made me). The Kings of Navarre During the Renaissance, the installation of the court of Navarre in 1512 significantly altered the appearance of the castle. Originally a fortress, it now became a pleasure residence. Henri d'Albret resided there with his wife Marguerite d'Angoulême, sister of François I, best known as Marguerite de Navarre, author of The Heptaméron. They marked the place with their initials, still present on the walls and ceilings, and great care was taken to maintain and reproduce the initials even over the subsequent restorations. Henri IV But their grandson gave the castle the fame it has today: not by any architectural endeavor, nor even by his own will. The future Henri IV was born in it on December 13, 1553, and the story did the rest.