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Gruyères Castle

Gruyères Castle

Photo: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Gruyères, Switzerland
Client / Owner
Counts of Gruyères
Year
Completed 1270
Access
Tickets required
Style
—

Gruyères Castle stands in the medieval town of Gruyères in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. It was built between 1270 and 1282 on a square plan, which the article says is typical of fortifications in Savoy. The Counts of Gruyères owned it until 1554.

That year Count Michel went bankrupt, and his creditors, Fribourg and Bern, divided his earldom. From 1555 to 1798 the castle housed bailiffs, then prefects, sent by Fribourg. In 1849 the Bovy and Balland families bought it, restored it and founded an artists' colony there.

The canton of Fribourg bought it back in 1938 and opened it as a museum. It holds three capes of the Order of the Golden Fleece, taken as booty at the Battle of Morat in 1476, and a collection of Fantastic Art. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

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