Château de Chillon, Montreux

1.5km/1mi beyond Territet, in the outlying district of Veytaux, is the popular tourist attraction of Chillon Castle, a stronghold of the Counts and Dukes of Savoy. Situated on a rocky islet close to the shore, it commanded the road from Burgundy over the Great St Bernard into Italy.

The castle, which now belongs to the canton of Vaud (conducted tours), was built in the ninth or 10th C., enlarged in the 11th-12th C. and given its present form in the 13th C. In the basement are large dungeons hewn from the native rock.

Picture - Château de Chillon on Lake Geneva.

Picture - Window in Chateau de Chillon looking out onto Geneva lake.

Picture - Tower, Chillon Castle, Montreux.

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Chateau de Chillon Map

Important Information:

Official site: www.chillon.ch

Address: Avenue de Chillon 21, CH-1820 Veytaux, Switzerland

Opening hours: Mar 1 to Mar 31: 9:30am-5pm
Apr 1 to Sep 30: 9am-6pm
Oct 1 to Oct 31: 9:30am-5pm
Nov 1 to Feb 28: 10am-4pm

Always closed on: New Year's Day (Jan 1), Christmas - Christian (Dec 25)

Entrance fee in EUR: Family €15.00, Adult €6.00, Concession or reduced rate €4.70, Child €2.90

Guides: Guided tour included with admission.

Facilities: Restaurant or food service

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Many Genevese were confined here for expressing their views too freely, among them François de Bonivard, Prior of St Victor's in Geneva. He was incarcerated here by the Duke of Savoy in 1530, fettered to an iron ring which is still shown to visitors, but was released in 1536 when Bernese conquered Vaux and, with the help of ships from Geneva, took the castle. He is the hero of Byron's poem "The Prisoner of Chillon" (1816). Other illustrious poets and writers such as Victor Hugo, Rodolphe Töpffer and Juste Olivier have written about the castle. Nowadays it is hard to distinguish the 25 buildings that make up Chillon castle, closely grouped around three courtyards; the oldest being the keep and the Duke's Tower, which are linked by an internal wall, the square tower, which dominates the entrance and the living quarters.

Chateau de Chillon Highlights

St Panteleon Chapel

Of special interest in the Château de Chillon is the 10th C. Chapel of St Pantaleon of which only the St Tryphon crypt remains. Although it was filled in during the 13th C. it has recently been rendered accessible again. The chapel contains the first Christian altar of the region - after the one at St Maurice. A reliquary dating from Carolingian times is displayed in the armory.

Basement

The imposing underground vaults of Château de Chillon, which are actually at water level and replaced the old timbers of the ground floor, are double-naved halls with mighty pillars and Gothic vaulting. The largest vault was Bonivard's prison.

Kitchen

On the ground floor of Chateau de Chillon are the large kitchen ("Grosse Bernerküche") with massive chestnut pillars and the courtroom.

Banquet / Heraldic Hall

On the upper floor of Château de Chillon are the former Banqueting Hall, the adjoining Bernese Room decorated with pretty bird and floral motifs and the splendid Heraldic Hall, formerly known as "aula paramenti" or the Knights' Hall with an interesting gallery of shields bearing the coats-of-arms of the Bernese governors.

In the old tower, in the Duke's apartments, traces of the rich 13th and 14th C. decoration with birds and flowers are still visible.

St Georg's Chapel

In Château de Chillon the little St Georg's Chapel has ribbed vaulting on six low pillars and is completely decorated with figures and tendrils.

Count's Great Hall

Across the upper courtyard of Château de Chillon is the Count's Great Hall (Grosser Grafensaal; "magna aula", "aula vetus") with a 15th C. coffered ceiling. Notable are the four windows with charming quatrefoils above two lanceolate 13th C. Gothic arches.

Through the treasury, the former prison and Vaud arsenal with its magnificent arches and Gothic ribbed vaulting we come to the medieval main tower ("magna turris"), 26 m/85ft high, and completed in three stages (12th-14th C.). From the top are marvelous views of the castle and the outline of the Alps. During the restoration work begun at the end of the 19th C. the original moat was restored.

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