Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Arlay Castle, located in Arlay in the Jura, is an 18th century private castle built at the foot of the ruins of a medieval 11th century castle. It has been listed as a historical monument since 1996 and is famous for being the oldest "Château-vingoble" in France, operating a 21 hectare wine estate in AOC Côtes du Jura. The site also includes the remains of a Gallo-Roman oppidum and an Anglo-Saxon fortress built by the lords of Chalon-Arlay, powerful barons of the medieval Jura.

From the 13th century onwards, the lords of Chalon-Arlay, enriched by the salt mines of Salins, dominated the area. Their castle, built on a dominant Arlay hill, was destroyed in 1479 by the troops of Louis XI after the death of Charles the Temerary. The Chalon-Arlay lineage, which became princes of Orange by marriage, transmits the estate to the House of Orange-Nassau, ancestor of the present rulers of the Netherlands, still Barons of Arlay today.

In 1770, Countess Elizabeth of Ghent of Lauragais bought a convent at the foot of the ruins to build a neoclassical castle and a romantic park of eight hectares, integrated into the enclosure of the ancient medieval village. During the Revolution, the Countess was guillotined in 1794, and the castle, sequestered, lost its furniture. In the 19th century, Prince Peter of Arenberg, his grandson, restored the ensemble and made a "restaurant style" furniture by cabinetmaker Alexis Repecaud.

Since 1960, the family of La Guiche, heiress of the estate, operates the historic vineyard (80,000 bottles/year) and created in 1996 the "Jeus Garden", a botanical garden labeled "Remarkable Garden". The park preserves the ruins of the medieval castle and offers summer tourist activities, combining wine, architectural and landscape heritage.

The estate, transmitted by inheritance from the Chalon-Arlay to the Orange-Nassau, then to the Ghent-Lauragais and the Arenberg, illustrates almost a thousand years of Jurassian history. The motto of the princes of Orange, "I will keep," recalled on the coat of arms, symbolizes this continuity. Today, the castle combines wine production, tourism and preservation of a classified heritage, open to the public in summer.

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