A French Chateau structure with over 100 fighters.

The current owner and manager of the castle.

By the late 1970s, Pon had already amassed a substantial car collection, including 10 Abarth racing cars and more than 300 rare motorcycles. However, he was just getting started. This initial batch of cars and motorcycles steadily increased, and soon it began to branch out. In the mid-1980s, Pon, formerly in the military, approached the French Air Force to inquire about the possibility of obtaining one of their decommissioned Mirage III fighter jets for display at the castle. The request was granted, and six months later what would become the basis of the largest private fighter collection in the world traveled to Savigny-les-Beaune.

It is no exaggeration to say that many national''aviation museums would envy what is on display here: about 100 airplanes of different makes and origins, neatly lined up on the castle grounds. The list reads like a 'Who's Who' of 20th century military aviation: here you can find various versions of French Mirages and Misters, American F-100 series fighters and Soviet MiGs and Sukhois.

The variety and scale of collections

For many years, Michel and Christophe Pont explored all over Europe and beyond to expand their collection. Those airplanes they were able to acquire were disassembled and brought to Chateau-Savigny to be reassembled on site. As the exhibitions grew and developed, word spread and the Pont family began to receive offers to accept various machines. Many of them in'. 'eventually found their place in the castle, which now has nine different exhibition areas, including satellites and space technology, tractors and winery equipment, as well as the already mentioned collections of airplanes, Abarth racing cars and historic motorcycles.

If the outdoor exhibit can capture the heart of any aviation enthusiast, the variety and scale of the other collections can also shock. All this extravagance becomes even more apparent when you visit the various pavilions scattered throughout the estate, or walk slowly through the halls and corridors of the castle. Moving from one room to another, each of which seems to contain thousands of scale models of virtually everything''possible types of airplanes that have ever flown and every make of car that has been produced, you stumble across countless interesting items, from catapult seats and fighter cockpits to disassembled engines scattered chaotically throughout the place.

Additional collections and winery

One of Chateau Savigny's most striking collections, literally, is the fire engine collection, created in collaboration with Jean-Claude Picot, a friend of Michel Pon.