The castle stands on an older fortification of the 7th century and is first known from 987. Roger I, Count of Carcassonne, left it to his youngest child Bernard in his will of 1002, and it became capital of the County of Foix in 1034. The article gives no construction date for the castle itself. Two square towers date from before the 11th century, and the Round Tower from the 15th. It names no architect, style or materials.
Simon de Montfort besieged it in 1211 and 1212. It fell only once, in 1486, through treachery. It was exempt from Cardinal Richelieu's destruction orders of 1632 to 1638, and served as a prison until 1862.
It has housed the Ariège departmental museum since 1930. It has been a monument historique since 1840.
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