Vufflens Castle: A Medieval Double Castle in Switzerland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Switzerland
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Savoy
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Vufflens Castle is a medieval fortress in Switzerland at Vufflens-le-Château, overlooking Lake Geneva from a hill about 473 metres above sea level. A fortress on the site was first mentioned in 1108 as Wuolflens, while the present complex was rebuilt in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century in a form influenced by Piedmontese castle architecture.
Early Lords and the Colombier Rebuilding
A second building was erected on the hill during the thirteenth century, and fragments of it survive. The lordship passed to the lords of Duin in 1239. In 1385, Henri de Colombier acquired it through his marriage to Jaquette de Duin, Lady of Vufflens-le-Château. Henri, a counsellor and confidant of Amadeus VIII of Savoy, who was first Count and later Duke, then commissioned the complete rebuilding of the castle. An Italian master builder directed the work, and brick was used for the representative residential fortress.
After Henri de Colombier died, the castle passed in 1438 to his son Richard and remained with the family’s descendants. The Colombiers retained it until the death of Philibert de Colombier in 1544 brought the family line to an end.
War, Ownership, and Restoration
In 1530, during conflicts between Savoyard nobles and Geneva, which Bern supported, Bernese troops looted and burned the castle. It escaped damage during Bern’s conquest of Vaud in 1536 under Hans Franz Nägeli. After 1544, while the territory was under Bernese sovereignty, ownership changed several times. Ludwig von Erlach and Ulrich Koch became co-lords in 1590.
Vufflens passed to the de Senarclens family in 1630 through the marriage of Marie Quay to François IV de Senarclens. Later marriages transferred it to Jules Faesch and then to Ferdinand de Saussure. Ferdinand’s descendants remain the owners, and the de Saussure family continues to use the castle as a residence.
A comprehensive restoration in 1860, carried out in a historicist style under the Geneva architect Samuel Darier, renewed the complex. The castle and its dependencies are protected as Swiss cultural property of national importance. Since 2007, Vufflens has also belonged to Clos, Domaines & Châteaux, an association of historic Vaud wine estates and castles.
Remains
Vufflens Castle is a double castle formed by two distinct architectural ensembles connected by defensive walls. Both were built in brick. An inner courtyard separates the large western group from the smaller residential castle to the east, while the surviving remains of the earlier thirteenth-century building form a fragmentary part of the site’s archaeological fabric.
Western Fortress
The western ensemble is centred on a square keep nearly 60 metres high. Four lower square towers surround it, and a defensive wall-walk with machicolations links the towers. Machicolations are projecting galleries or parapet openings through which defenders could drop objects or liquids onto attackers below. A guardroom occupies the keep’s ground floor. The western building was never completed and was never occupied.
Eastern Residential Castle
The eastern ensemble is a smaller square castle that served as a residence and continues to do so. Four round stone towers stand at its corners, and machicolations form part of its defensive design. Its residential function distinguishes it from the unfinished western building while preserving the paired arrangement of the medieval complex.
Cellar and Vineyard
The castle’s vaulted cellar contains six large oak vats, each holding 8,700 litres. The associated vineyard extends across eight hectares and produces wines under the AOC system, a regulated designation for products made according to defined geographic and production standards. The wine is made at the nearby Domaine du Plessis and stored in the castle’s cellar.
