The Chillon Castle

The Chillon Castle is an architectural jewel located in the most beautiful setting imaginable, between the shores of Lake Geneva and the Alps, only 3 km from Montreux, Switzerland. With over 1,000 years of history, Chillon Castle has always inspired artists and writers, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Victor Hugo and Lord Byron, from Delacroix to Courbet. The castle appears to rise out of the waters where it occupies a rocky islet and is connected to the mainland by a small, charming, wooden bridge.

No one is sure when the Chillon Castle was first built. Its site has been occupied since the Bronze Age, but most historians date the oldest parts of the castle to about a thousand years ago and credit Pierre II of Savoy with building the present structure in the 13th Century. Chillon Castle's infamous dungeons were literally carved from the rock that supports the castle foundations. The visible portions of the castle include some two dozen buildings around three courtyards, all jammed together in a classically crowded medieval style. The Castle was never taken in a siege, but did change hands through treaties.

The Chillon Castle was made popular by Lord Byron, who wrote the poem The Prisoner Of Chillon (1816) about François de Bonivard, a Genevois monk and politician who was imprisoned there from 1530 to 1536; Byron also carved his name on a pillar of one if the castle's dungeons. For the last 200 years, the Chillon Castle has been owned by the Canton of Vaud, and it has been a tourist attraction since it was visited (and popularized) by 19th Century poets and authors such as Byron, Shelley, Victor Hugo, Hans Christian Andersen, Flaubert, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens.

The Chillon Castle now hosts a museum with some historical objects preserved and is open daily to public tours. The Chillon Castle is filled with medieval furniture, huge fireplaces and has beautiful window seats where women used to sit and embroider. Chillon Castle is a must see for any romantic or history lover.

Have you visited Chillon Castle? If so, please feel free to share your experience with us. We are always happy to hear from you.