Gruyeres Castle

About this place

Gruyeres Castle sits on a hill above the small town of Gruyères in the canton of Fribourg, western Switzerland, about 22 km northeast of Montreux and 49 km southwest of Bern in a straight line. It is among the best-known castles in Switzerland and a heritage site of national significance. It was built between 1270 and 1282 on the square plan typical of Savoy fortresses and belonged to the Counts of Gruyères until Count Michel went bankrupt in 1554. Governors sent by Fribourg then lived here until 1798. In 1849 it was sold to the Bovy and Balland families, who used it as a summer home, restored it and hosted an artists' circle, and in 1938 the canton bought it back and opened it as a museum. Round towers and stone walls rise above the town's single cobbled street, ringed by green pastures and the peaks of the Pre-Alps. Inside are rooms with period furniture, 19th-century landscape paintings by artists including Corot, a collection of fantastic art and a small French-style garden. Visitors walk up the main street of the car-free town to the castle gate. The area is famous for Gruyère cheese; a show dairy on the plain below the town can be visited, and fondue is the standard dish in the local restaurants.