CHATEAU DE CHILLON CASTLE
Inspiration of the Romantics on Lake Geneva
The rocky little island at the eastern edge of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) must have seemed the perfect, natural spot for a fortress since before the dawn of the written word. The first indication of a fortification on the rocky point dates from the Bronze Age. The first written record of a castle at Chillon near Montreux in the Vevey region of French speaking Switzerland appears in the 12th century. The castle’s heyday as a medieval fort and residence castle guarding the narrow passage on the lake shore was from its time under the Counts of Savoy who controlled a large portion of southwest Switzerland, the valley of the Rhone between steep Alps peaks to form a fertile valley passage between Italy and France called the Vaud. The Savoy’s lost their grip on the region to the Bernese in 1536. The lords of Bern lost their control in the Vaudois Revolution of 1798.
Under the canton of Vaud, the castle of Chillon lost its value as a fortress and became mostly a storeroom for weapons and a prison, inhabited by a few guards, but the striking image of the castle on the lake waters surrounded by magnificent snow covered mountains, often caressed by morning mists on the lake, inspired the imagination of writers and poets of the Romantic Age. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in his romantic revisiting of the medieval legend of Abelard and Heloise (see Nogent-sur-Seine),
set a chapter at the Castle of Chillon.
Lord Byron, while staying in Geneva with friends Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin (later Mary Shelley) in the famous literary summer of 1816 (see Byron
Villa Geneva), took a rowing trip on the lake with Shelley, on a tourist’s tour to visit the sites of Rousseau’s work. His stop at the Chateau de Chillon with its dark donjons where a Genevan monk François de Bonivard, was held a captive under the Savoys, inspired Byron to abandon the gothic scare tale he’d begun as a parlor bet with the Shelleys (see Mary
Shelley London) and write the haunting poem
of Bonivard’s
endurance under unjust punishment “The Prisoner of Chillon”,
crystallizing his view of the romantic hero. Byron even left his name
scratched in
a pillar of the prison dungeon, still there, like a literary vandal.
Ever since the publishing of Byron’s poem, the Chillon Castle has
become a must-see tourist stop for visitors to the eastern Lake Geneva
region, inspiring painters
and photographers as well as writers, like Victor Hugo and Henry James.
Chillon
is partly responsible for the rise of nearby Montreux as
a stop on the Grand Tour of Europe of the 19th Century’s La Belle
Epoque age of aristocratic touring. Today Chillon is the most visited
historic site in Switzerland.
Known for its beautiful 15th Century turrets, the Chillon castle is a walled fortress from the land side, with the lake forming a natural moat crossed by a dramatic wooden bridge to the gate. From the lake side, the castle forgoes a defensive wall with the residence windows looking out on the the waters where the cruise boats pass on their circuit of the lake, with the water lapping at its stony foundation. The other factor which has made Chillon such a tourist destination is its location. Unlike many medieval castles, you don't have to climb a mountain to get there. The main line railroad tracks run between the castle and the coast road, while the high autoroute freeway passes on a viaduct along the hillsides high above, making it very easy for a stop on any trip through the area, just an hour plus from Geneva or Bern (see Switzerland
by Rail). The Chateau Chillon can also be reached by the cruise boats which stop along the towns of the Lake Geneva Riviera. The boat perhaps provides the most impressive view of the castle from the water, but only makes the trip every few hours and just twice a day in the off-season.
Visiting Chillon Castle
The Chateau de Chillon is only five to ten minutes from Montreux, either by rail from the main station or by the regular municipal bus line No 1, which travels along the shore of Lake Leman from Vevey to Villenueve. The castle daily is open from 9 am to 7 pm daily from April to September, 9:30 am to 6 pm in October and March, and 10 am to 5 pm November to February. Last admission is an hour before closing. The castle sells its own exclusive wine, Clos de Chillon, to support its upkeep. Group castle and wine tasting tours can be arranged. A special guide book for kids with the castle's dragon mascot Drako is available in English and other languages for family visits.
If visiting Chateau Chillon and the Vaud and you feel the need for other Savoy castles, from Montreux you can take the "Chocolate Train" scenic day rail excursion to Gruyeres for a visit to the Nestle chocolate factory and the Gruyeres Castle (see Chocolate Train) or take a regular regional train from Montreux, or the bus from Villenueve, about 30 minutes to Aigle, to the Vaudois Wine Museum at Chateau Aigle (see Wine and Vines at Castle Aigle). © Bargain Travel Europe
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Chateau
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SEE ALSO:
SHERLOCK HOLMES MUSEUM - MEIRINGEN
BEYER
CLOCK & WATCH MUSEUM ZURICH
HOTEL INTERLAKEN - BYRON'S LAST STOP
CHATEAU DE MORGES MILITARY MUSEUM
