--- title: "Maison Nicéphore Niépce: Opening Times and Visit" description: "The house near Chalon where Niépce made the oldest surviving camera photograph in 1827. Open July and August, closed Tuesdays. Private driver from Beaune." url: https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/maison-nicephore-niepce lang: en updated: 2026-09-30 generated: 2026-10-08 image: https://www.cote-privee.com/og/things-to-do/maison-nicephore-niepce.png --- # Nicéphore Niépce’s House (Maison Nicéphore Niépce) > Nicéphore Niépce’s House: the country house near Chalon where Nicéphore Niépce made the oldest surviving camera photograph. Nicéphore Niépce’s House is in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes (Saône-et-Loire), 41 min by road (43 km) from Beaune. Allow 1 to 1.5 hours · Private driver from Beaune: €140 one way for the whole car, up to 4 guests. At Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, a few kilometres south of Chalon, stands Le Gras, the house where Nicéphore Niépce carried out his research. From a window here he made the oldest surviving photograph taken with a camera. Restored by a photography school, the house opens to visitors for a short season each summer. ## Key facts - Type: Museums - Where: Saint-Loup-de-Varennes · Saône-et-Loire - Location: 35 km south of Beaune · Saône-et-Loire - Coordinates: 46.7274, 4.8577 - 41 min from Beaune - Allow 1 to 1.5 hours - Saint-Loup-de-Varennes - Official website: [photo-museum.org](https://photo-museum.org/) - From Beaune: ≈ 41 min · 43 km - €140 one way from Beaune with a [private driver](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver) - Or add it to our [half-day wine tour plus one hour, €360](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/half-day). ## Getting there - [Private driver from Beaune](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver): 41 min by road (43 km), €140 one way for the whole car. Coming by train or plane? [Transfers from stations and airports](https://www.cote-privee.com/transfers) Estimates per vehicle for up to 4 guests, tolls included. Your price is confirmed when you book. ## History Niépce, born in Chalon in 1765, spent his summers at Le Gras and carried out his experiments there. With his brother Claude he also invented the Pyréolophore, an early internal combustion engine patented in 1807. In 1827 he fixed the view from a window of the house onto a metal plate coated with bitumen of Judea. In 1829 he formed a partnership with Louis Daguerre, and he died in this house in 1833. The house remained little studied until 1999, when the photographer Pierre-Yves Mahé, director of the Spéos photography school, began to research and restore it. It opened to visitors in 2007, and in 2013 the Ministry of Culture gave it the Maisons des Illustres label. Spéos still finances and manages the museum, which has also published Niépce's letters and papers online. ## What you will see Visitors see the rooms where Niépce worked and follow how his process evolved, from engraved plates to the first image fixed from a camera. The house also preserves the photographic studio and laboratory of the Chalon photographer Petiot-Groffier, whose chemicals date from around 1840, presented as the oldest known to survive. Displays cover the Pyréolophore engine and other Niépce inventions, including an early velocipede. ## Planning your visit The house opens only in summer, from 1 July to 24 August, and is closed on Tuesdays; check the official website for opening times before planning a visit. It is a short drive south of Chalon, so it pairs naturally with the Musée Nicéphore Niépce on the same day. ## Did you know? Niépce died in this house in 1833, six years before the photographic process developed with his partner was announced in Paris in 1839 under the name daguerreotype. ## Around Nicéphore Niépce’s House What to combine with Nicéphore Niépce’s House on the same day, nearest first. ### Villages - [Givry](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/givry) (11 km away): A small wine town of 18th-century monuments, whose red wine is linked by legend to Henri IV. - [Montagny](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/montagny) (15 km away): A white-only appellation of hillside vineyards around Buxy, with a wealth of premiers crus. - [Mercurey](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/mercurey) (16 km away): The largest vineyard of the Côte Chalonnaise, known above all for its reds. ### Châteaux - [Château de Taisey](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-taisey) (6 km away): A graceful house of the 1680s beside an old square tower, on a terrace above the Saône. - [Château de Saint-Germain-lès-Buxy](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-saint-germain-les-buxy) (7 km away): A moated medieval castle reinvented in the romantic troubadour style by Viollet-le-Duc's son-in-law. - [Abbaye de La Ferté](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/abbaye-de-la-ferte) (7 km away): The palace of the first daughter-house of Cîteaux, with 18th-century rooms, scientific collections and a landscaped park. ### Things to do - [Nicéphore Niépce Museum (Musée Nicéphore Niépce)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/musee-nicephore-niepce), 6 km away: A museum of photography in the home town of its inventor, from the first cameras to digital images. - [Église Saint-Pierre de Chalon-sur-Saône](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/eglise-saint-pierre-chalon-sur-saone) (6 km away): A Baroque church with twin domed towers, where the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny took their first vows. - [Old Town of Chalon-sur-Saône (Centre historique de Chalon-sur-Saône)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/centre-historique-chalon-sur-saone), 6 km away: Half-timbered houses, riverside quays and an island in the Saône, explored on a signed walking trail. ### Restaurants - [Cédric Burtin](https://www.cote-privee.com/restaurants/cedric-burtin-saint-remy) (4 km away · 2 MICHELIN stars): Two stars in a converted mill on the southern edge of Chalon-sur-Saône. ## Questions about Nicéphore Niépce’s House ### How far is Nicéphore Niépce’s House from Beaune? Nicéphore Niépce’s House is about 41 min from Beaune by road (43 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €140 for the whole car, up to 4 guests. ### How long does a visit to Nicéphore Niépce’s House take? For the visit, allow 1 to 1.5 hours. ### When is Nicéphore Niépce’s House open? Opening days and times change during the year, so check the official website (photo-museum.org) before you go. Your driver can plan the day around them. ### Can a private driver take us to Nicéphore Niépce’s House? Yes. Your driver collects you in Beaune or at your hotel in an electric Polestar 2 (up to 4 guests), waits while you visit and plans the rest of the day with you. The driver speaks English, French, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic. → [Half-day wine tour plus one hour, €360](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/half-day) ## Book - [Book a driver here](https://www.cote-privee.com/book?service=driver&place=sight:niepcehouse): €140 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests ## Sources - - - - --- Canonical page: