Montbard · Côte-d’Or
Parc Buffon at Montbard
On the site of the medieval castle of Montbard, the naturalist Buffon laid out the park that bears his name; the park, its gate, orangery and Buffon’s study were classified in 1947.
From the source
Château de Buffon is a château at Montbard, Côte-d'Or, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of France. The recorded building campaign dates from the 18th century. It is protected as a monument historique at the higher of the two levels (classé). Details are drawn from the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture.
Editorial reading
The record’s protection lines say what survives: the Tour de l’Aubépin, classified by the list of 1862, and the Parc de Buffon with its entrance gate and the buildings within its enclosure — the orangery with its railing, the Tour Saint-Louis and Buffon’s cabinet de travail — classified in 1947. The park is thus protected as a whole, terraces, walls and towers together, as the eighteenth-century garden of a working scientist rather than as the remains of a fortress.
Recommendation
Buffon wrote his Histoire naturelle in the small study at the top of this park; the terraces are the walk he took to reach it.
Sources
Base Mérimée — immeubles protégés · PA00112547 — Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab) — Ministère de la Culture, base Mérimée
Wikimedia Commons · https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Parc%20Buffon%20a%20Montbard%20DSC%200011.JPG — CC BY-SA 3.0
The château by this garden
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Château et ses dépendances
Château et ses dépendances is a château at Saint-Rémy, Côte-d'Or, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of France. The recorded building campaign dates from the 16th century. It is protected as a monument historique at the second level (inscrit). Details are drawn from the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture.
Château de Montfort (ruines)
Château de Montfort (ruines) is a château at Montigny-Montfort, Côte-d'Or, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of France. The recorded building campaign dates from the 11th century. It is protected as a monument historique at the second level (inscrit). Details are drawn from the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture.
Abbaye de Fontenay
Fontenay stands in the commune of Marmagne, near Montbard in Côte-d’Or, Burgundy. Bernard of Clairvaux founded the abbey in the early twelfth century: the abbey’s own history gives 1118, while UNESCO records 1119. Its church was built between 1139 and 1147 and consecrated by Pope Eugene III. The Romanesque church, cloister, chapter house, dormitory and forge preserve different aspects of a Cistercian community organised around worship and manual work. The late-twelfth-century forge is an important surviving witness to the order’s industrial activities. The site also records change and loss: the medieval refectory was demolished in 1745. After the monks left during the French Revolution, Fontenay became a paper mill in 1791. Élie de Montgolfier acquired it in 1820. Édouard Aynard bought the property in 1906 and began a major restoration, removing industrial additions; the campaign continued until 1911. Fontenay remains privately owned and is open to visitors. The abbey was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1981 under criterion (iv), recognising the significance of its monastic architecture and organisation. The wooded valley and watercourses are part of the setting that makes the complex legible. The operator’s visitor route includes the principal monastic buildings, gardens and a stone museum.