The Château d'Audour is a castle located in the town of Dompierre-les-Ormes, in Saône-et-Loire, 20 km southwest of Cluny.
The current building was built from 1775.
However, from the 14th century, a first fortified house had been built by the family of Ris then a second castle had been erected, in the 15th century, by Guy de Fautrières.
Later, the estate belonged to the lords of Audour, and this name will remain attached to the land… In 1749, the Damas family came into possession of the premises by marriage. And in 1775, it was she who decided to build a new castle according to the plans of the architect Jean-Pierre Caristie, of Italian origin. A channel is dug on this occasion which makes it possible to bring to light Roman remains.
The building takes the form of an imposing rectangular building framed by two wings.
The figures reflect the immensity of the building: it includes a facade 42 m long, 12.50 m wide, three floors and no less than 180 doors and windows! Staying at the castle, Lamartine will give a striking description: "Audour is an immense edifice similar to an oriental caravanserai, rising alone at the top of a sand hill... On the south side, rows of rooms and apartments open by a flight of steps onto a narrow valley, where grassed slopes, clumps of cedars and firs and a lake lead the eye beyond the valley. It is a castle of Mary Stuart in a Scottish landscape. "
The exterior style remains neoclassical.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, several owners succeeded one another. Around 1900, the botanist Philippe de Vilmorin, ally of the family then owner, designed the landscaped park of the castle, as well as the arboretum of Pézanin, on land then dependent on the domain.
After the municipality bought the castle in 1970 to avoid its dismantling, it became private again. Registered in the Inventory, it cannot be visited. However, the imposing domain can mark out a walk before or after discovering the arboretum... Information on +33 3 85 50 21 34.
