Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Bierre-lès-Semur, located in the Côte-d'Or in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, was built in the middle of the eighteenth century by Marc-Antoine Chartraire de Montigny, treasurer of the states general of Burgundy. Owner of the Hotel Chartraire de Montigny in Dijon, he built this imposing castle, with 100 bedrooms, French gardens and a 250 hectare enclosed park. His son, Antoine Chartraire de Montigny, added in 1775 a neo-classical family chapel in the parish church, decorated with woodwork probably from the castle. He also built two towers connected by a Tuscan portico and modified the bell tower.

In 1808 the great-granddaughter of Marc-Antoine, Queen Claude Chartraire de Bourbonne, sold the estate to Gaspard Monge, Count of Pelouse and founder of the École Polytechnique. The latter, disappointed by his acquisition, sold it in 1810 to Count Heudelet, general of Empire. The latter, assisted by his wife Marie-Thérèse Villequez, transformed the estate into a model farm inspired by the Hameau de la Reine in Versailles, while at the same time dining at the Saint-Léonard church (classified in 1987). The castle, its communes and its park were listed as historic monuments in 1946 and re-registered in 2025.

General Heudelet, buried in Dijon, and his wife, buried in Bierre-lès-Semur, marked local history by their agricultural and cultural commitment. Their son, Étienne Heudelet de Bierre, general councillor from 1819 to 1838, sold the castle in 1848 for lack of a male heir. Part of the family furniture and souvenirs was passed on to the Château du Lude via the Bastide du Lude family. The estate, now privately owned, preserves the traces of this rich history, mixing neo-classical architecture, agricultural innovations and aristocratic heritage.

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