The palace of the first daughter-house of Cîteaux, with 18th-century rooms, scientific collections and a landscaped park.
€160one way from Beaune with a private driver
Private driver from Beaune: 46 min by road (51 km), €160 one way for the whole car.
Or add it to our full-day wine tour, €560.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
La Ferté was the first daughter-house of the great Cistercian abbey of Cîteaux, founded in 1113 beside the marshes of the Grosne. The abbey church has gone, but the elegant abbot's palace survives intact. The owning family welcomes visitors to its furnished rooms, scientific collections and park.
In 1113 Stephen Harding, abbot of Cîteaux, sent the monk Philibert and a few brothers to found the order's first daughter-house here, between the forest of Bragny and the Grosne marshes. Gifts from the ducal court and local lords, especially the Gros de Brancion, soon made it rich. With Pontigny, Clairvaux and Morimond, La Ferté became one of the four elder daughters of Cîteaux.
The abbey was fortified in 1415, yet in 1570 Protestant troops under Admiral Coligny set it on fire. Rebuilding took decades. In 1682 Abbot Claude Petit built the abbot's lodging and the cloister, and around 1760 Abbot Filzjean de Chemilly added the central frontispiece bearing his arms. The last abbot had the interiors redecorated by the Chalon architect Rameau, with work by the sculptor Guillaume Boichot.
At the Revolution only fourteen monks remained, and some buildings housed a cotton mill. The abbey was sold in 1791, and the church and most of the monastery were demolished. The abbot's palace survived and became the Château de la Ferté. In the 20th century it came to Baron Thénard, a descendant of the chemist Louis Jacques Thénard, and it was classified in 1993.
The abbot's palace is a long classical building of the late 17th and 18th centuries. A two-storey central block of three bays carries a pediment, flanked by wings of four bays under mansard roofs and corner pavilions. Inside, a vast staircase leads to salons with carved panelling and original furniture. The monks' refectory survives, and a gallery displays scientific instruments from the 19th century.
Guided tours start at 10:30, 11:30, 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30, and from March to June private visits are by appointment.
Checked on on the official site.
Guided tours of the palace run in July and August, followed by a free walk in the English-style park. From March to the end of June, private visits can be booked by appointment, and the palace also opens for the European Heritage Days in September. The family also offers rooms in the dovecote and the gatehouse, and tastings of their wines. A rare-plants fair takes place each April.
What to combine with Abbaye de La Ferté on the same day, nearest first.
Abbaye de La Ferté is about 46 min from Beaune by road (51 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €160 for the whole car, up to 4 guests.
Did you know? From this quiet corner of the Chalonnais, La Ferté founded daughter-houses as far away as Italy, Greece and Lebanon, spreading the Cistercian way of life around the Mediterranean.
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€160 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests
