Château du Pin, Historic monument in Le Pin, France

The Château du Pin is a 13th-century fortress in Le Pin, 3 km northeast of Lons-le-Saunier. Its rectangular keep, built after 1252, measures 20.14 m by 16 m with walls 2 to 2.80 m thick, and is attached to the gatehouse. A polygonal enclosure with five semi-circular towers surrounds a residence with mullioned windows and a 16th-century stair turret.

Jean Ier de Chalon, Count of Burgundy and lord of Arlay, built the castle in 1253 on the ruins of an earlier castrum to control the salt road across the lands of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre de Baume-les-Messieurs. In 1425 it was sold to Guillaume de Vaudrey, lord of Courlaoux, who gave it its present form. Louis XIV ordered its destruction in 1674 during the Dutch War, but only part of the curtain wall was demolished; from the 18th century it passed through several owners and served as a farm. Baron Carlos de Watteville bought the partly ruined castle in 1920 and restored it between 1923 and 1933, rebuilding the enceinte and the logis, raising the towers and restoring the keep.

The castle's name comes from the village of Le Pin, and its hilltop position above the Seille, Doubs and Saône valleys made it a lookout over the salt route. The neo-medieval conciergerie between the keep and the logis dates from Baron Carlos de Watteville's restoration of 1923-1933, and the logis keeps a 16th-century staircase in a polygonal turret.

The castle opens to visitors only from 1 July to 31 August, and again during the Journées du Patrimoine heritage days. It stands 3 km north-east of Lons-le-Saunier, north-east of the village of Le Pin, on a hill above the Seille, Doubs and Saône valleys. The grounds include the lower courtyard, now a garden, with remains of the Chasnée fortified house.

The keep measures 20.14 metres by 16 metres, with walls between 2 and 2.80 metres thick, and its interior has five levels entered from the central courtyard through a door at first-floor height. The second-floor room and its adjoining chapel were reserved for the seigneurial family.