Bèze Abbey, Benedictine monastery in Bèze, France

Bèze Abbey is a monastery complex featuring a church and residential buildings surrounded by fortified walls and a moat. Two defensive towers from the 15th century mark the site and reflect the period when the community needed to protect itself from danger.

Founded in 629 by Duke Amalgaire of Lower Burgundy, the abbey followed the Rule of Saint Columbanus for two centuries before adopting the Benedictine Rule in 826. It was sacked by the Saracens around 730, by the Hungarians in 936 and 937, and later devastated during the Hundred Years' War and the Black Death. In 1429 it was fortified with stone walls, a moat and towers, two of which survive.

The abbey is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, and its full French name is Abbaye Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul de Bèze. The site was long tied to the diocese of Langres, to which it belonged until 1731, when it passed to the diocese of Dijon. Since 2010 the surviving buildings have been listed as a monument historique inscrit.

The abbey is private property and opens to visitors only for a small fee, and its grounds are also opened on the Journées du Patrimoine. The surviving 18th-century buildings stand beside the Bèze, with two medieval towers from the 1429 fortifications still marking the enclosure. Allow time to walk the park laid out in the 19th century.

Amalgaire endowed the abbey with 31 domains of forests, vineyards and buildings, including vineyards in the Gevrey-Chambertin area that today produce Chambertin-Clos de Bèze, a grand cru red Burgundy. The wine's name keeps the memory of the monastery's medieval estate.