A travelling baron
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was famous in the 17th century for travelling as far as India. The adventurer and author wanted to retire in Aubonne. But his settled life did not last long.
Christophe Vuilleumier
Christophe Vuilleumier is a historian and board member of the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Geschichte (Swiss Historical Society). He has published a number of articles on 17th and 20th century Swiss history.
The traveller's fascination with the "Orient" had only just begun. Over the years, he travelled as far as India and Java and joined the Zurich watchmaker Johann Rudolf Stadler on his way to Persia in 1632. As a jeweller in India, where he lived at the court of the Grand Mogul, he acquired a fabulous diamond of 45.52 carats in Hyderabad in 1668. It is a gemstone that is rumoured to have been stolen from the forehead of a statue of the god Vishnu. The adventurer brought the deep blue diamond and many other precious stones back to Europe and presented them to Louis XIV.
The canton of Vaud appealed to the baron, but over the years his desire to travel returned. Or was it the dwindling fortune? Tavernier sold the estate in Aubonne in 1685 to Marquis Henri du Quesne (1642-1722), a Protestant naval officer who had fled to Switzerland after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After that, his trail is lost.
However, the fate of the blue diamond is better known. The gemstone had remained in the French royal family and disappeared in the turmoil of the French Revolution in 1789. At the beginning of the 19th century, the stone reappeared in London and was bought by the English banker Thomas Hope. Its new owner gave the showpiece a new name: Hope Diamond. The gem then changed hands several times and is now kept in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington. Rumour has it that the diamond is cursed because it was "stolen from a god", but that's another story.
With the change of government in 1803, the situation of Aubonne Castle was hotly debated. Due to the advanced state of decay, the cantonal authorities tried to sell the building just one year later. Without success. The attempts to dispose of a property whose restoration costs were particularly high continued until 1835. At that time, the municipality of Aubonne bought the building with the aim of using its cellars to store wine from local productions. Today, the building is listed as a Swiss cultural asset of national importance and houses a secondary school and several public rooms.
