~2025-31539-27: /* In art and popular culture */Added location

2025-11-17T01:36:48Z

In art and popular culture: Added location

New page

{{Short description|Castle in Veytaux, Switzerland}}
{{redirect|Chillon}}
{{Infobox Building
| image = 001 Chateau de Chillon and Dents du Midi Photo by Giles Laurent.jpg
| caption = Chillon Castle at nightfall with the [[Dents du Midi]] in the background
| name = Château de Chillon
| coordinates = {{Coord|46|24|51|N|06|55|39|E|display=inline,title}}
| location_town = [[Veytaux]], [[Vaud]]
| location_country = Switzerland
| mapframe = yes
| map_type = Canton of Vaud#Switzerland
| map_caption = Location in Vaud##Location in Switzerland
| start_date =
| completion_date =
| style = Medieval
| classification = [[Historic monument (Switzerland)|Historic monument]]
| architect = Jacques de Saint-Georges
| website = {{URL|chillon.ch/en}}
}}

'''Chillon Castle''' ({{langx|fr|Château de Chillon}}, {{IPA|fr|ʃɑto d(ə) ʃijɔ̃|pron}}) is a medieval island [[castle]] located on [[Lake Geneva]], south of [[Veytaux]] in the Swiss canton of [[Vaud]]. It is situated at the eastern end of the lake, on the narrow shore between [[Montreux]] and [[Villeneuve, Vaud|Villeneuve]], which gives access to the [[Alps|Alpine]] valley of the [[Rhône]]. Chillon is amongst the most visited medieval castles in [[Europe]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Mc Currach |first=Ian |date=27 April 2003 |title=One Hour From: Geneva |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/one-hour-from-geneva-595993.html |newspaper=The Independent |location=London |access-date=2014-07-30}}</ref> Successively occupied by the [[House of Savoy]], then by the [[Canton of Bern|Bernese]] from 1536 until 1798, it now belongs to the canton of Vaud and is classified as a [[Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance|Swiss Cultural Property of National Significance]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.babs.admin.ch/de/aufgabenbabs/kgs/inventar/a-objekte.html |title=Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance |date=1 January 2018 |website=A-Objects |publisher=Federal Office for Cultural Protection (BABS) |access-date=16 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160902033944/http://www.babs.admin.ch/de/aufgabenbabs/kgs/inventar/a-objekte.html |archive-date=2 September 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
According to the Swiss ethnologist [[Albert Samuel Gatschet]], the name ''Chillon'' derives from the Waldensian dialect and means "flat stone, slab, platform". The name ''Castrum Quilonis'', attested from 1195, would, therefore, mean "castle built on a rock platform.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jaccard |first=Henri |title=Essai de Toponymie |publisher=La Société d'Histoire de la Suisse Romande |year=1867 |isbn=978-1-141-93817-9}}</ref>

== Introduction ==
The castle of Chillon is built on the island of Chillon,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gil |first=Annika |date=December 13, 2006 |title=Combien d'îles sur le lac Léman |url=https://www.vd.ch/fileadmin/_migrated/content_uploads/Gazette-181-W-13-12-2006.pdf |website=La Gazette}}</ref> a small, steep-sided oval [[limestone]] rock that advances into [[Lake Geneva]] between [[Montreux]] and [[Villeneuve, Vaud|Villeneuve]]. The placement of the castle is strategic: it guards the passage between the {{ill|Vaud Riviera|fr|Riviera_vaudoise}}, which allows access to the north towards [[Germany]] and [[France]], and the [[Rhone valley]], a quick route to [[Italy]], and offers a viewpoint over the Savoyard coast on the opposite side of the lake. A [[garrison]] could thus control (both militarily and commercially) the access to the road to Italy and apply a toll.

[[File:ETH-BIB-Veytaux,_Schloss_Chillon-LBS_H1-011115.tif|thumb|274x274px|Aerial view (1948)]]
Chillon has been a military site since the central [[Middle Ages]] and the development of the current castle spans three periods: the Savoy Period, the Bernese Period, and the Vaudois Period.<ref>{{cite web |title=Château de Chillon - History overview |url=http://www.chillon.ch/en/index-La%2Bgrande%2Bhistoire-0-0.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713060630/http://www.chillon.ch/en/index-La+grande+histoire-0-0.html |archive-date=2009-07-13 |access-date=2013-01-13 |publisher=Chillon.ch}}</ref>

==History==
===Savoy period===
A square [[donjon]] was built on the island in the 11th century; the identity of the works' commissioner is currently in question. It was built to control the road from Burgundy to the [[Great Saint Bernard Pass]].<ref name="de Fabianis, p. 175">de Fabianis, p. 175.</ref> A charter of 1150, in which [[Humbert III, Count of Savoy|Count Humbert III]] granted the [[Cistercians]] of [[Haut-Crêt Abbey|Hautcrêt]] free passage to Chillon, shows that the castle was under the authority of the [[House of Savoy]].

From the mid 12th century, the castle was the summer home for the [[House of Savoy|Counts of Savoy]], who kept a fleet of ships on Lake Geneva. The castle was greatly expanded in 1248<ref name="de Fabianis, p. 175" /> and 1266-7 by Count [[Peter II of Savoy|Peter II]].{{sfn|Cox|1967|p=20}} During this time the distinctive windows were added by Master [[James of Saint George]], who is believed also to have added similar windows to [[James of Saint George|Harlech Castle]] in Wales at a later date.<ref>Taylor, Arnold (1985). Studies in Castles and Castle-Building. London. The Hambledon Press.</ref>

===Chillon as a prison===
The counts and dukes of Savoy used the castle as a residence but also to house prisoners. Its most famous prisoner was probably [[François de Bonivard]], a Genevois monk, prior of St. Victor in [[Geneva]] and historian, who was imprisoned there for six years in 1530.

===Bernese period===
In 1536, the castle was captured by a Bernese army, and all the prisoners, including Bonivard, were released. The castle became the residence for the Bernese bailiff.

===Vaudois period===
In 1798, the French-speaking canton of [[Vaud]] drove out the German-speaking [[Bern]]ese authorities and declared the [[Lemanic Republic]]. The Vaudois invited in French troops to help them maintain autonomy from the other Swiss. When the French moved in and [[French invasion of Switzerland|occupied]], Chillon was used as a munitions and weapons depot.<ref name="de Fabianis, p. 175"/>

== Restoration ==
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 {{ill|Henry de Geymüller|fr}}, a specialist in [[Renaissance]] architecture who was closely associated with the restoration of buildings such as the Romanesque {{ill|Church of Saint-Sulpice, Vaud|fr|Temple de Saint-Sulpice}} in [[Saint-Sulpice, Vaud|Saint-Sulpice]], the {{ill|Saint-François church|fr|Église_réformée_Saint-François_(Lausanne)}} 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. He initiated a general survey of the fortress, which was continued and intensified by his replacement as lead architect-archaeologist, {{ill|Albert Naef|fr}}, who played a major role in the development of archaeology in the Canton of Vaud. Naef devoted twenty years to the study of Chillon.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Bertholet |first1=Denis |title=Autour de Chillon: Archéologie et Restauration au Début du Siècle |last2=Feihl |first2=Olivier |last3=Huguenin |first3=Claire |publisher=Musée Cantonal d'Archéologie et d'Histoire |year=1998 |location=Lausanne}}</ref> Subordinating aesthetics to historical accuracy, he undertook detailed research into historical archives and conducted extensive archaeological excavations. The process was conscientiously documented in plans, sketches, photographs, and a journal kept by Naef. Until it was abandoned in 1908 the restoration followed a painstaking process of indicating replacement stones with inscriptions on the cut stone (R = Restored; RFS = Restoration facsimile; RL = Free Restoration), or by a change of colour or a red line on the masonry.<ref name=":1" /> Naef also restored the interior of the castle, including the tapestries of certain rooms, such as the great room of the bailiff, also called the "great Bernese kitchen".
* The creation in 1887 of The Association for the Restoration of Chillon.<ref>{{Cite web |title=N 2 Château de Chillon, 0600-2003 (Fonds) |url=http://www.davel.vd.ch/detail.aspx?ID=14125 |access-date=2019-05-17 |website=www.davel.vd.ch |language=en}}</ref> From the outset, the Association aimed for an "artistic" restoration with the intention of "giving back to objects the character with which they were clothed, almost a latent life, a life impression of the ideas of their time".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Lettre Circulaire, 1887 |publisher=Archives Cantonales Vaudoises |year=1887 |location=Lausanne |pages=131}}</ref> It is also planned to create a historical museum at the castle.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Huguenin |first=Claire |title=Patrimoines en Stock: Les Collections de Chillon |publisher=Musée Cantonal d'Archéologie et d'Histoire |year=2010 |location=Lausanne}}</ref>
* The appointment in 1889 of a Technical Commission comprising renowned art historians and architects who specialised in monument restoration. Alongside Rahn and de Geymüller, it included Théodore Fivel, architect in [[Chambéry]] and connoisseur of Savoyard castle architecture, {{ill|Léo Chatelain|fr}}, restorer of the {{ill|Collegiate Church of Neuchâtel|fr|Collégiale_de_Neuchâtel}}, and State architect [[Henri Assinare]]. The Commission first met on 27 October 1890 and closely supervised the restoration over subsequent years. De Geymüller played a key role in its success. Drawing on principles published in 1865, and enhanced in 1888, by the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Conservation of Ancient Monuments and Remains. General Advice to Promoters of Restoration of Ancient Buildings |publisher=Sessional Papers of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1864-1865 |year=1865 |location=London |pages=29}}</ref> he established a framework in the ''Milestones for the Restoration Program'' printed in [[Lausanne]] in 1896.<ref name=":1" /> Naef also joined the Technical Commission on the death of Fivel in 1895.
* The adoption by the [[Canton of Vaud]] in 1898 of a law on historic monuments, the first of its kind in [[Switzerland]], which planned to establish a cantonal Commission for historic monuments and to create a cantonal archeologist's post. Naef, who drafted the law, was the first appointee to this function and was responsible for putting in place protection of historical monuments.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bertholet |first=Denis |title=La Loi de 1898 |publisher=Musée Cantonal d'Archéologie et d'Histoire |year=1998 |location=Lausanne |pages=41–48}}</ref>
The result was judged to be exemplary. In an 1898 lecture to the [[Zürich|Zurich]] Antiquity Society, [[Johann Rudolf Rahn]] boasted about it,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bissegger |first=Paul |date=2010 |title=Henri de Geymüller versus E.-E. Viollet-le-Duc: le monument historique comme document et œuvre d'art. Avec un choix de textes relatifs à la conservation patrimoniale dans le canton de Vaud vers 1900 |url=http://wp.unil.ch/monumentsvaudois/ |journal=Monuments Vaudois |publisher=Association Edimento |pages=5–40}}</ref> while the German Emperor, [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|William II]], inquired about the Chillon model when planning the reconstruction of the fortress of [[Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg|Haut-Koenigsbourg]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Autour de Chillon: Archéologie et Restauration au Début du Siècle |last1=Bertholet |first1=Denis |last2=Feihl |first2=Olivier |last3=Huguenin |first3=Claire |publisher=Musée Cantonal d'Archéologie et d'Histoire |year=1998 |location=Lausanne |pages=182}}</ref> Due to these restorations, the castle is in excellent condition and is a good model of [[Feudalism|feudal]] architecture.

== Tourism ==
From the end of the 18th century, the castle attracted romantic writers and inspired poets from around the world, including [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], [[Victor Hugo]], [[Alexandre Dumas]], [[Gustave Flaubert]], [[Mary Shelley]] and [[Lord Byron]]. By 1939, helped by its proximity to the popular tourist destination [[Montreux]], the castle was attracting over 100,000 visitors a year. By 2005, this number had increased to 300,000.<ref name="HDS">{{HDS|7591|Chillon}}</ref>

Chillon remains open to the public for visits and tours on an entrance fee basis and is, according to the castle's website, "Switzerland's most visited historic monument".<ref>{{cite web |title=Chillon Website - Main Page |url=http://www.chillon.ch/en/ |access-date=2013-01-13 |publisher=Chillon.ch}}</ref> There are parking spaces and a nearby bus stop. Inside the castle are recreations of the interiors of some of the main rooms including the grand bedroom, hall, and cave stores. Visitors can view four great halls, three courtyards, and a series of bedrooms including the ''Camera domini'', which was occupied by the [[Duke of Savoy]] and is decorated with 14th-century [[murals]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Chillon Website - Rooms |url=http://www.chillon.ch/en/index-%25C0%2Bvoir-0-0.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080325154815/http://www.chillon.ch/en/index-%25C0%2Bvoir-0-0.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 25, 2008 |access-date=2013-01-13 |publisher=Chillon.ch}}</ref>

== In art and popular culture ==
[[File:Le Prisonnier de Chillon - Eugène Delacroix - Musée du Louvre Peintures RF 1660.jpg|thumb|''[[The Prisoner of Chillon (painting)|The Prisoner of Chillon]]'' by [[Eugène Delacroix]]]]
Having been inspired by the story of [[François Bonivard]] after a visit to the castle, [[Lord Byron]] wrote a poem entitled ''[[The Prisoner of Chillon]]'' in 1816 about François. Byron supposedly carved his name on a pillar of the dungeon. The French artist [[Eugène Delacroix]] drew inspiration from Byron's poem for his painting ''[[The Prisoner of Chillon (painting)|The Prisoner of Chillon]]'' which was exhibited at the [[Salon of 1835]].

[[File:Helga von Cramm, chromolithograph, Chillon, with Havergal poem, C. Caswell publisher, 1870s.jpg|thumbnail|Chromolithograph of Chillon by [[Helga von Cramm]] with a [[Frances Ridley Havergal|Havergal]] prayer, hymn or poem, c. 1878.]]

[[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]] included a poetical illustration to a painting of the castle by [[Samuel Prout]] (engraved by J. B. Allen), {{ws|[[s:Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1838/The Castle of Chillon|'The Castle of Chillon']]}} in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1838.<ref>{{cite book |last=Landon |first=Letitia Elizabeth |title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1838 |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=49BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA38 |section=picture |year=1837 |publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}{{cite book |last=Landon |first=Letitia Elizabeth |title=Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1838 |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=49BbAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA40 |section=poetical illustration |page=49|year=1837 |publisher=Fisher, Son & Co.}}</ref>

[[Gustave Courbet]] painted the castle several times during his Swiss exile in nearby [[La Tour-de-Peilz]]. The most famous representation is "The Castle of Chillon," oil on canvas painted in 1874 and currently located at the [[Musée Courbet]] in [[Ornans]] in France.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.musee-courbet.com/gustave-courbet.php?rub=31&oeuvre=9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016205607/http://www.musee-courbet.com/gustave-courbet.php?rub=31&oeuvre=9 |url-status=dead |title=Le château de Chillon (1874) |website=musee-courbet.com |access-date=2019-05-28 |archive-date=2007-10-16}}</ref>

In his 1878 novel ''[[Daisy Miller]]'', [[Henry James]] has his heroine and a young American compatriot, Winterbourne, visit Chillon Castle. The one-time prison of François Bonivard assumes a symbolic and premonitory significance for Daisy Miller, who thinks she can escape the shackles of social conventions.

In 1890, watchmaker Edouard- GabrielWuthrich, finished a mechanical automaton that took five years to make. Made of [[zinc]], [[steel]] and [[brass]] it is a 1/100 scale model illustrating the capture of the castle and liberation of [[François Bonivard]] by the Bernese in 1536. Measuring {{cvt|100|x|67|x|42|cm|in}}, it is equipped with a [[music box]] with original sheet music handwritten by [[Geneva]]n composer E. Perrin and includes one hundred moving figurines, including many small soldiers and scenes of torture in dungeons visible through barred windows. The 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 franc]]s, at an auction held in [[Paris]] in March 2016.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Béda |first=Claude |date=2016-06-21 |title=Disparu durant un siècle, un automate fait revivre l'illustre prisonnier de Chillon |language=fr |work=VQH |url=https://www.24heures.ch/vaud-regions/disparu-siecle-automate-revivre-illustre-prisonnier-chillon/story/24939821 |access-date=2019-05-16 |issn=1424-4039}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Couleurs locales - Vidéo |url=https://www.rts.ch/play/tv/couleurs-locales/video/couleurs-locales?id=7822273 |access-date=2019-05-16 |website=Play RTS |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=VD: l'automate d'exception du château de Chillon se remet en marche - Vidéo |url=https://www.rts.ch/play/tv/couleurs-locales/video/vd-lautomate-dexception-du-chateau-de-chillon-se-remet-en-marche?id=7824819 |access-date=2019-05-17 |website=Play RTS |language=fr}}</ref>

The painter E. Lapierre depicted the castle in oil on canvas in 1896.

Chillon was used as the cover image of Bill Evans' 1968 live album ''[[Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival]]'' and inspired the castle in the 1989 Disney animated film ''[[The Little Mermaid (1989 film)|The Little Mermaid]]''.

[[Patrick Caulfield]]'s painting After Lunch (1975)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tate |title='After Lunch', Patrick Caulfield, 1975 |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/caulfield-after-lunch-t02033 |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}</ref> includes a photomural of Chateau Chillon.

The castle has twice hosted the Compagnie du Graal theatre company, based in [[Thonon-les-Bains]], in 2009 for a sound and light adaptation of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[King Lear]]'' and again in 2012 for the creation of an epic fresco inspired by the titan of Greek mythology, [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]].

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="140">
File:Château de Chillon mit Autobahn-IMG 0823.jpg|Chillon Castle and Motorway
File:Schweiz Schloss Chillon Gesamtansicht.jpg|From the south
File:Château de Chillon - Montreux .jpg|From above
File:Chillon HPS DSC03744.JPG|Front
File:Basement-of-chillon-castle.jpg|Chillon Castle crypt
File:Grand Hall of the Count.jpg|Grand Hall of the Count
File:Château de Chillon Innenhof 2008.jpg|The castle courtyard
File:Chillon mg 4915-b.jpg|[[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Byron]]'s signature in the dungeon
File:Chateau du Chillon.jpg|''Chateau du Chillon'' by [[Gustave Courbet]], 1875
File:Chillon-Castle.JPG|Chillon Castle, aerial view
File:Château de Chillon video.webm
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Fort de Chillon]] – a 20th-century fort largely buried in the adjoining hillside
* [[List of castles in Switzerland]]
* [[List of islands of Switzerland]]
* [[Tourism in Switzerland]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{ cite book |last=Cox |first=Eugene L. |title=The Green Count of Savoy |url=https://archive.org/details/greencountofsavo0000coxe |url-access=registration |location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1967 |lccn=67-11030}}
* {{ cite book |editor-last=de Fabianis |editor-first=Valeria |title=Castles of the World |location=New York |publisher=Metro Books |year=2013}} {{ISBN|978-1-4351-4845-1}}
* <nowiki>Fonds : Château de Chillon (600-2013) [Archives de l'Association du château de Chillon (antérieurement Association pour la restauration du château de Chillon) et archives provenant du Secrétariat général du Département de l'instruction publique et des cultes et du Service des bâtiments concernant le château de Chillon : photographies, plans, inventaires, journaux de fouilles, écrits non publiés, contrats, règlements, procès-verbaux, rapports, correspondance, comptabilité, imprimés, publicité, registres des visiteurs du château, dossiers divers, archives de l'architecte Otto Schmid. 172,20 mètres linéaires]. Cote : </nowiki>[[:fr:ISO 15511|CH-000053-1]] N 2. [[:fr:Archives cantonales vaudoises|Archives cantonales vaudoises]]. ([http://www.davel.vd.ch/detail.aspx?ID=14125 présentation en ligne] [archive])
* Denis Bertholet, Olivier Feihl, Claire Huguenin, ''Autour de Chillon. Archéologie et restauration au début du siècle'', Lausanne 1998.
* Claire Huguenin, ''Patrimoines en stock. Les collections de Chillon'', Lausanne 2010.
* Paul Bissegger, «Henri de Geymüller versus E.-E. Viollet-le-Duc: le monument historique comme document et œuvre d'art. Avec un choix de textes relatifs à la conservation patrimoniale dans le canton de Vaud vers 1900», ''Monuments vaudois'' 2010, <abbr>p.</abbr> 5-40.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Château de Chillon}}
{{wikisourcepar|The Prisoner of Chillon}}
* {{Official website|http://www.chillon.ch/en/}}

{{Castles of Vaud}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chillon Castle}}
[[Category:Castles in Vaud|Chillon, Chateau of]]
[[Category:Museums in Vaud]]
[[Category:Cultural property of national significance in Vaud]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Switzerland]]
[[Category:Lake islands of Switzerland]]
[[Category:Lake Geneva]]

Chillon Castle - Revision history

~2025-31539-27: /* In art and popular culture */Added location