Europe · Switzerland · Vaud
Chillon Castle
The story
History of Chillon Castle
An island fortress on Lake Geneva, tollgate of the Alpine road and setting for Byron's poem, with vaulted dungeons cut into rock.
Switzerland · Vaud · Medieval
- Built
- 12th century
- Era
- Medieval
- Style
- Medieval
- Country
- Switzerland
- Region
- Vaud
- UNESCO
- —
- Coordinates
- 46.414, 6.928
In depth
The fuller history
At the end of the 19th century, a systematic restoration of the monument was undertaken, through which an ethic of monumental restoration was developed in one of the first cases of the application of archaeology and history to rebuild a structure in a historically accurate way. This was possible because of the combination of four factors:
The involvement of pioneering specialists in restoration including Johann Rudolf Rahn, one of the founders of the Swiss Society of Historical Monuments in 1880, and Henry de Geymüller, a specialist in Renaissance architecture who was closely associated with the restoration of buildings such as the Romanesque Church of Saint-Sulpice, Vaud in Saint-Sulpice, the Saint-François church in Lausanne, and the Lausanne Cathedral. The initial lead architect of the restoration at Chillon was Ernest Burnat, who had worked with de Geymüller in restoring Lausanne Cathedral.
Key dates
- 1150A charter of 1150, in which Count Humbert III granted the Cistercians of Hautcrêt free passage to Chillon, shows that the castle was under the authority of the House of Savoy.
- 1248The castle was greatly expanded in 1248 and 1266–7 by Count Peter II.
- 1865Drawing on principles published in 1865, and enhanced in 1888, by the Royal Institute of British Architects, he established a framework in the Milestones for the Restoration Program printed in Lausanne in 1896.
- 1889The appointment in 1889 of a Technical Commission comprising renowned art historians and architects who specialised in monument restoration.
- 1898In an 1898 lecture to the Zurich Antiquity Society, Johann Rudolf Rahn boasted about it, while the German Emperor, William II, inquired about the Chillon model when planning the reconstruction of the fortress of Haut-Koenigsbourg.
- 2016The automaton disappeared for decades and was eventually purchased by the Association of Friends of Chillon, the Cantonal Museum of Archeology and History (MCAH) and the Castle Foundation, for 59,000 Swiss francs, at an auction…
Historical summary drawn from Wikipedia. Read the full article.
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