Château de Tanlay

The Château de Tanlay can be privatised all year for business lunches, dinners, cocktails, receptions, wine tastings, conferences and concerts. Each event is quoted according to the project and the date. The château stands on Place du Général de Gaulle in Tanlay, a village of the Yonne near Tonnerre, in northern Burgundy. Weddings are not possible at present.

Seminars and company events

For a company, Tanlay suits a conference followed by a lunch or a dinner, a client evening with a concert, or an incentive day built around a guided visit and a tasting of regional wines. The château does not publish room names or capacities for events, so the format is agreed with the château's team once you send your request. Group visits run all year by reservation, for at least 12 people, with guided tours of about 50 minutes in French or English and printed documents in German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Russian. A wine tasting can follow the visit. Book at least three weeks ahead. Coach parking is set out opposite the town hall.

Weddings and receptions

The château does not take weddings for the moment. Private receptions, cocktails and dinners remain possible on the same terms as company events.

History and setting

Building began in the early 16th century on the foundations of an older fortress. In 1533 the estate passed to Louise de Montmorency, widow of Marshal Gaspard de Coligny and sister of the Constable Anne de Montmorency. Her youngest son, François de Coligny d'Andelot, built the main château between 1550 and 1568, during the Wars of Religion. The leaders of the Protestant party met in the Tour de la Ligue, whose frescoes can still be seen. The Petit Château, begun in 1610, was finished by Jacques Chabot, Marquis de Mirebeau. In the mid-17th century Michel Particelli d'Hemery, superintendent of finances, completed the main château with the architect Pierre Le Muet, adding the right wing of the main courtyard, the moats, the stables and the canal in the park. The Galerie des Césars, with its trompe-l'œil decoration, dates from the same period. In 1705 Jean Thevenin, made Marquis de Tanlay by Louis XIV, bought the estate, and his descendants decorated the interiors in the 18th century. The house has passed down the same line ever since, and its present owners received the Grand Trophée Dassault Histoire et Patrimoine in 2024. The rear of the park, with a façade and a parterre not previously shown to the public, has recently reopened.

Getting there

Tanlay lies a few kilometres east of Tonnerre, whose station is on the line from Paris to Dijon. The château opens to the public from April to early November, for guided visits only, every day except Tuesday, and can be privatised all year.