La Rochepot castle
Location: 25km northwest of cottages, 15km southwest of Beaune.
Nearby: Beaune, Nolay, Cirque du bout du Monde, Meursault, Pommard, Santenay, Chassagne-Montrachet, Chagny.
Useful Information: Open April to October - closed Tuesday
Since 2019 : the castle of La Rochepot is currently closed, the owners have any trouble with justice.
Anyway it worths the effort to see it from the outside.
Why we love this place:
- symbolizing Burgundy with its elegance and its glazed tiles, it combines perfectly with a visit to Beaune and the Hospices,
- this castle is a perfect example of Renaissance architecture as represented by a drawbridge, battlements, spiral staircases, curtain walls, octagonal turrets, mullioned windows, fireplaces etc ...
- visits can be by your own or guided (well documented), see castle website,
- a shop of local products is to be opened in 2016,
- inside there is furniture and weapons (crossbows) of the XVth century and kitchen utensils from the seventeenth century,
- you can walk around the castle and in the village, and there are several points of view around the rocky outcrop and the castle,
- the village church of La Rochepot contains interesting tapestries and a beautiful triptych from the XVIIth century.
A little history:The château of La Rochepot is of neo-Gothic-Burgundian style of the thirteenth century, rebuilt in the fifteenth century. It takes its name from the Knights of the Golden Fleece, Régnier Pot and his grandson Philippe Pot. It was Philippe who started to reinvigorate the castle in the fifteenth century. He had an important role as a diplomat at the time of the merger of Burgundy and the kingdom of France. The carved tomb of Philippe Pot can be seen in the Louvre.
Despite the destruction of its keep during the Revolution, it was completely restored with care in the nineteenth century by the family of President Sadi Carnot, and they just sold the castle recently. It is likely that the polychrome tiles on the roof are not original and were imported from Eastern Europe.
