Festival des Châteaux dans le Jovinien

When the castles of the Jovinien open to music

Since 2022, the Festival des Châteaux dans le Jovinien has established itself as one of the most original cultural events in the Yonne. Born from the initiative of the Joigny and Jovinien Tourist Office, in partnership with the Pays d'Art et d'Histoire du Jovinien, this traveling festival transforms a handful of historic residences into open-air stages every late August, inviting the public to an extraordinary heritage and musical journey.

The concept is as simple as it is appealing: each evening of the festival week, a different property opens its doors — park, chapel, orangery, or main courtyard — to host a guided tour followed by a concert or a conference. Everything concludes with a pot de l'amitié (friendly reception), a convivial moment where owners, artists, and spectators gather for warm exchanges in the heart of an exceptional setting.

The Jovinien, a territory of exception

The Jovinien intercommunal area, with Joigny as its central town, obtained the prestigious « Ville ou Pays d'Art et d'Histoire » (City or Country of Art and History) label in December 2020. This land of hills, plateaus, and forests boasts no less than 115 classified or listed historic monuments, including a constellation of castles, manors, and seigneurial residences that dot the banks of the Yonne River and its surroundings.

Among the properties that have hosted the festival over the years are places of great architectural diversity: the Château de Cudot and its outbuildings, the former castle of Champlay with its elegant dovecote, the Château du Feÿ in Villecien with its park of remarkable trees, residences in Looze, Brion, Précy-sur-Vrin, Saint-Julien-du-Sault, and La Celle-Saint-Cyr. Each site reveals a different facet of the rich heritage of an often-overlooked region, nestled in a bend of the Yonne halfway between Paris and Dijon.

A traveling festival: eight evenings, eight castles

Each edition of the festival takes place over eight consecutive evenings, with one evening per castle. The public is invited to gather from 7 PM on site for a guided tour of the location led by guides from the Pays d'Art et d'Histoire. Depending on the evening, the tour focuses on the architecture, gardens, outbuildings, or even the botany and history of the place.

The tour is then followed by a concert — chamber music, vocal recital, jazz, world music, or early music — or a thematic conference related to the place or the historical period evoked. The artistic program, carefully chosen to suit the acoustics and spirit of each site, offers surprises and discoveries each year.

The evening invariably concludes with a convivial pot de l'amitié, with a glass of wine or crémant in hand, in the castle gardens or courtyards, creating a gentle and elegant festive atmosphere unique to this festival.

A formula accessible to all

The festival aims to be open to all audiences. Prices are deliberately moderate: around 15 euros per evening for the full price, 12 euros for reduced price (students, young people aged 12-17, job seekers, people with disabilities), and free for children under 12. Multi-evening passes allow you to enjoy the entire festival at a preferential rate: a 3-evening pass is offered around 30 euros, and an 8-evening full pass for around 70 euros. As places are limited to ensure the quality of the experience, advance booking with the Joigny Tourist Office is mandatory.

Joigny and the Jovinien: a setting of art and history

Joigny, the main town of the Jovinien region, preserves a rich medieval heritage: Saint-Jean, Saint-André, and Saint-Thibault churches, the Renaissance Gondi castle, and half-timbered houses from the 15th and 16th centuries. The Jovinien territory, labeled Pays d'Art et d'Histoire in 2020, boasts preserved rurality where castles and manors nestle in the folds of the landscape, often invisible from the roads. The festival is the perfect opportunity to enter properties usually closed to the public and discover local stories that no ordinary visit would allow. Launched in 2022 and with four editions to its name, it has become an unmissable event of the summer cultural season in the Yonne.