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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The castle of Lantenay, located on the side of the hill at the eastern limit of the village of the same name in Côte-d'Or, finds its origins in a medieval site. As early as 584, King Gonrand attached Lantenay to the possessions of Saint-Bénigne. The place became a strategic point for the Dukes of Burgundy: Hugues IV married his granddaughter Alix in 1268, Agnes de France received lords there in 1316, and Eudes IV dictated his will there in 1349. In the 15th century, the castle changed hands several times, passing between those of Jean without Fear, Philippe le Bon, and Robert de Montgomery, before its big tower was demolished around 1594.

In 1619 Jean Bouhier, adviser to the Parliament of Burgundy, acquired the estate and had the present castle built on the remains of a 12th century fortress, of which a chapel decorated with frescoes remains. His grandson, Benoît-Bernard Bouhier, president of the Grand Council, obtained in 1677 the erection of the lands in marquisat under the name of Beaumanoir. The castle was then profoundly redesigned, with decoration works continued by his son Antoine-Bernard Bouhier in the 18th century. The Bouhier lineage, marked by complex family alliances, retained the estate until the Revolution, where it was sold as a national good.

The present architecture, rebuilt from the seventeenth century, consists of two L-shaped buildings, framed by pavilions with wrought iron staircases. The interior courtyard includes a nymph and a baluster terrace, while the 19th-century English-style park houses a dovecote, a medieval chapel and a 17th-century pavilion. Ranked a Historic Monument, the castle benefited from major restorations in 1922, modifying its interior distribution and decoration, while preserving elements from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Among the protected elements are the two monumental staircases (classified in 1963), the nymphée, the cooler and the garden pavilion (classified in 1988), and the facades, roofs, dovecote and orangery (registered in 1988). The site thus reflects centuries of architectural and family history, from its medieval origins to its modern transformations.

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