Château De Chillon, Veytaux
Posted On December 2, 2009
The Château de Chillon is commonly known as Chillon Castle. Château de Chillon is located on Lake Geneva’s shore and is a part of the municipality of Veytaux. It is situated at the eastern side end of the lake and about 3 km from the Montreux located in Switzerland. The entire castle has around 100 different independent buildings that are more or less connected with each other. And thus now they together outline a single whole.
The definite dates of the old parts of the huge castle are not known. The first written record regarding the castle is around 1160 or 1005. The castle acted as the house to the Counts of Savoy in the mid of the twelve century. Pietro II expanded the castle in the 13th century. The castle was hold by many treaties but it was never blockade.
The castle gained huge popularity when Lord Byron wrote the poem The Prisoner Of Chillon in the year 1816. The poem was about François de Bonivard,who was a Genevois monk as well as a politician who was imprisoned in the castle’s prison from the year 1530 up to 1536. Byron also engraved his name on one of the column of the prison. The castle is one of the locations which are shown in the Henry James’s short story Daisy Miller which was written in the year 1878.
The Chillon’s history has its inspiration from the three important periods that were the Bernese Period, the Bernese Period and the Savoy Period.
In today’s time Chillon has been transformed into a museum. Many of the historical objects from the past are been preserved and few are kept open for the public tours.
The Castle of Chillon aka Château de Chillon is kept open every day except Christmas and New Year’s for the general public to visit. The visiting hours does vary according to the seasons. Have a look at the castle’s official Web site for its timing as well as the admission fees and it keeps on changing.
To reach the castle you can take a flight to the Switzerland airport and from there it is advisable to take a car to train to reach to the castle. Traveling in the care is the easiest way to reach Chateau de Chillon Castle. Also a free parking is available at both the sides of the road outside the castle.
