Blonay Castle is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

Blonay Blonay () is a former municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. On 1 January 2022 the former municipalities of Blonay and Saint-Légier-La Chiésaz merged into the new municipality of Blonay - Sa ...

of the

Canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms ...

in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

History

The castle was built in 1175, by Willliam II of Blonay (died 1197), a

ministerialis The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Minist ...

in Savoy, on the site of a fortified structure that dated from 1095. It has served as the Blonay family seat since that time, aside from a brief interruption in the 18th century. The oldest remaining portion of the structure is the sturdy, square castle keep, which has been strengthened, and seen a row of buildings attached to create another courtyard. Only two of four towers remain, around an irregular rectangular plan. There is a forecourt with a Renaissance-style

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

, from 1677 on the western edge, and a chapel dating from the 15th century, with stained glass windows from 1577. Residential quarters built between the 18th and 20th centuries have undergone renovations and alterations. By the 19th century, a moat had been filled in.

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

created a painting of the castle in about 1875, during the artist's self-imposed exile from France, living in neighboring

La Tour-de-Peilz La Tour-de-Peilz () is a municipality in Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. The city is located on Lake Geneva between Montreux and Vevey (their agglomeration counting some 80,000 inhabitants). History In the ar ...

Weblinks

Commons: Schloss Blonay – Sammlung von Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien * Bilder und Infos zum Schloss (französisch) * Homepage der Familie de Blonay

References

External links

Castles in Vaud Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Vaud {{Switzerland-castle-stub

History

Weblinks

See also

References

Further reading

External links