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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Patrimoine
  3. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
  4. Nièvre
  5. 58360 Saint-Honoré-les-Bains

  6. Castle of the Mountain

 Castle of the Mountain à Saint-Honoré-les-Bains dans la Nièvre

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine défensif
Demeure seigneuriale
Château
Nièvre

Castle of the Mountain

    195 Château de la Montagne
    58360 Saint-Honoré-les-Bains
Photo de Castle of the Mountain

Timeline

Moyen Âge central
Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1200
…
1700
1800
1900
2000
1171
Union of Lordships
1773
Reconstruction after the storm
1773-1776
Construction by Caristi
1839-1840
Renovations by Duban
1847
Foundation of pottery
2025
Complete classification of the castle
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

The castle, the communes, the buildings of the government, the kennel, the pigeon-house, the stables, the farm, the house of the coachman, the mossels, the house of the garden, the fruit tree, the orangery (cad. D 101, 102, 110 to 112, 116, 121, 122): registration by order of 20 March 1995 - The former pottery (Case D 116): classification by decree of 17 July 1997 - The park and all the elements it contains: the terraces, the walls, the basins, the doll house, the trees and alleyways, the facades and roofs of the old building of the tilery (cad. D 1 to 3, 5 to 10, 101 to 106, 108 to 110, 112, 114 to 120, 123 to 125, 262, 345 to 361) : entry by order of 14 October 2002; The following parts of the Château de la Montagne, as delimited on the two planes annexed to the Order: the cooler situated on Parcel 202 of Section D of the cadastre, the capture and hydraulic network of the Deffend source situated on Parcel 127 of Section D of the cadastre, the captures, collectors and hydraulic system of the Old Mountain located on Parcels 2, 3, 17, 18, 23, 527, 534 and 544 of Section C of the cadastre and on Parcels 11, 12 and 14 of Section D of the cadastre, and under the uncadastral parts of the Rouillière Rural Road (contiguous to Parcels C 3 and C 17), the communal road No. 3 (contiguous to Parcels C 2 and D 14) and the departmental road No. 985 (contiguous to Parcel C 14 and Communal Road No. 3): inscription by order of 26 August 2022; The following parts of the castle of the Mountain: the castle, in full; the total outbuildings of the castle; buildings and vestiges of the pottery industrial apparatus, in full; the ground of cadastral parcel 117 of section D of the cadastre of the commune, all situated in Château de la Montagne, on parcels No 8, No 114, No 117, No 354, No 355, No 360, No 361, No 378, No 379, No 380, No 381 and No 391 of section D of the cadastre of the commune, as coloured in red (the buildings) and in pink (the parcel) on the plan annexed to the decree: classification by decree of 14 July 2025

Key figures

Jean-Baptiste Caristi - Architect Designed the castle in 1773-1776.
Félix Duban - Architect-restaurant Modernized inside around 1840.
Antoine Théodore de Viel de Lunas d’Espeuilles - Marquis and Senator Create the pottery and restore the thermal baths.
Pierre Louis Rouillard - Sculptor Author of the stair statue.
Guillaume de Grandrye - Ambassador and Protestant Owner in the 16th century.
Jean-Marie Sallonyer de Montbaron - Reconstructor Lord Order the present castle in 1773.

Origin and history

The Château de la Montagne, located in Saint-Honoré-les-Bains in the natural park of Morvan (Nièvre, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté), finds its origins at the top of the Old Mountain, where a first castle fort was built in the Middle Ages, probably on the remains of a Gallo-Roman oppidum linking Bibracte to the Loire. This strategic site, with a dungeon and ramparts, was mentioned in a 1537 burrow before being destroyed between 1512 and 1533 by foreign troops. The seigneury, fought between the Sires of Châtillon-en-Bazois and the Dukes of Nevers, passed into the hands of noble families such as Damascus, Grandry (ambassadors and military), and Chandon, before being rebuilt in the eighteenth century.

In 1773, a storm devastated the existing castle, pushing Jean-Marie Sallonyer de Montbaron to order a reconstruction of it to the Italian architect Jean-Baptiste Caristi between 1773 and 1776. The new neoclassical building retains its ditches and incorporates a square chapel. In the 19th century, the Marquis Théodore d'Espeuilles, owner of the premises, called on Felix Duban (restaurator of the Sainte-Chapelle) to modernize the interior: staircase of honor, Napoleon III lounges, and library. He also developed an industrial pottery (1847-1920), inspired by Bernard Palissy, and revived the local spa. The castle, still owned by the family of Espeuilles, is partially opened during Heritage Days.

Today's architecture combines elements from the 18th and 19th centuries: a house body flanked by wings, a chapel restored by Duban, and interior decorations signed by Rouillard (sculptor) and Diderot Anglade (master glassmaker). The park, classified, includes terraces, ponds, and an old tilery. The remarkable rooms include the dining room with oak woodwork, the stained glass and Italian marble salon, and the honorary staircase decorated with an equestrian statue of the Marquis killing a boar (classified MH in 2003). The dependencies (colombier, stables, orangery) and the historical hydraulic network (glacière, source of the Deffend) bear witness to its seigneurial and industrial past.

The site is protected in several ways: registration of buildings and park in 1995 and 2002, classification of pottery in 1997, and extension of protections in 2022 (hydraulic system) and 2025 (castle in full). The coat of arms of the family of Espeuilles ("From Gules to a Silver City") recall their role in local history, including as senators and mayors of Saint-Honoré-les-Bains. The castle thus illustrates the evolution of a medieval seigneury in aristocratic residence, then in industrial and thermal fields.

The medieval burrows reveal a seigneury spread over 715 hectares, with rights of justice, hunting and fishing on several parishes (Saint-Honoré, Semelay). The conflicts between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Bishops of Autun, then the Wars of Religion, marked its decline before its renaissance in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Today, the castle embodies both an architectural heritage, a testimony of the morvandelle ceramic industry, and a place linked to the thermal history of the region.

External links

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