![Chillon Castle on Lake Geneva. In the background the Dents du Midi. Photochromolithography, around 1900.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/chillon-titel-300x225.jpg)
Chillon Castle
Renowned for its beauty and ranking among the best-preserved of medieval European castles, Chillon Castle is a medieval fortress situated on the banks of Lake Geneva close to Montreux in what is present-day Canton Vaud. Chillon Castle was formerly the domain of the powerful Counts of Savoy during the 12th-16th centuries. Swiss forces from Canton Bern seized Chillon Castle from the House of Savoy in 1536, and Chillon Castle later became a source of inspiration for writers and poets throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
![Chillon Castle on Lake Geneva. Photo print "The world in colors", around 1907.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/schloss-chillon-am-genfersee-gbe-156483-lm-17676518-300x220.jpg)
![Red shield with silver cross: The coat of arms of the Duke of Savoy. Coat of arms of Duke Charles III, 1519.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/wappen-des-herzogs-von-savoyen-dig-2109-dep-43-202x300.jpg)
![The ambassadors are received in front of Chillon Castle by Peter II and his entourage.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/peter-ii-von-savoyen-empfangt-gesandte-der-stadt-bern-im-mai-1255-300x291.jpg)
![After being elected Pope Felix V, Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy enters Bern on June 18, 1440. Illustration from the "Amtliche Berner Chronik" by Diebold Schilling (1483).](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/herzog-amadeus-viii-von-savoyen-reitet-nach-seiner-wahl-zum-papst-felix-v-am-18-juni-1440-in-bern-ein-300x280.jpg)
The Bernese occupy Chillon Castle
![Cover picture of the folk song that tells of the war against Savoy and the conquest of Vaud by the Bernese in 1536](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/eroberung-der-waadt-1536-durch-die-berner-300x204.jpg)