Saint-Maurice Castle
Map with all coordinates: | Saint-Maurice Castle | ||
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 Saint-Maurice Castle, on the left the old customs house |
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| Alternative name (s): | Château de Saint-Maurice | |
| Creation time : | 15th century | |
| Castle type : | Bridge Castle, Zollburg | |
| Conservation status: | receive | |
| Geographical location | 46 ° 13 '24.2 " N , 7 ° 0' 10.5" E | |
| Height: | 418 m above sea level M. | |
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The Saint-Maurice Castle ( French: Château de Saint-Maurice ) is located in the Swiss canton of Valais in the middle of the Alps , about 56 kilometers southeast of Lausanne and is a major attraction in the city of Saint-Maurice .
location
Saint-Maurice is the north portal of the European transalpine route of the direct thoroughfare between Franche-Comté and Piedmont .
The castle is on the route from Lake Geneva ( Chablais ) to the Great St. Bernhard in the narrow Rhone at the entrance to the upper Rhone Valley . At the end of the Middle Ages, the gorge at Saint-Maurice acquired a new military significance. During the Burgundian Wars it became the border between two states ( Savoy , Republic of the Seven Tens ) that had to be fortified.
history
The construction of the castle in stages began between 1476 and 1482 with the defensive system at the end of the Rhone Bridge built in the 12th century, the first bridge upriver after Lake Geneva . The defense system consisted of a tower as a right bank bridgehead with a lockable gate and a tower including the western part of the curtain wall with a gate on the left side of the Rhone, which blocked the way from Monthey . This core was expanded from 1482 to 1496 with a building as the accommodation of the governor and the garrison.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the circular wall with the south and east parts was closed and in 1512 a tower was built at the southwestern entrance to the castle. In 1592 the south tower was extended to the west with a small building over the road from Monthey. Around 1625 the road from Monthey was moved from the south to the north side of the castle. Between 1646 and 1651, when Gaspard Stockalper (from 1646 to 1647) was governor, the small building in the south, above the former street of Monthey, was enlarged with wide, bright rooms.
In the fire of 1693 almost the whole town of Saint-Maurice and the castle were destroyed. With the reconstruction of 1697 the castle was enlarged to a residence and a new building was built for the garrison in the northern courtyard, between the old path of Monthey and the curtain wall.
With the end of the Ancien Régime , the castle lost its importance as the local seat of power. In the course of its history it served as the governor's seat, guard post, customs office and between the 18th and 19th centuries as an orphanage, asylum for old men, military school, troop shelter and prison.
In 1831 the castle was integrated into the fortification system of the Dufour Gorge to defend the Great St. Bernhard and Simplon Axis , which had to organize the defense of the Swiss Confederation in case of war. The Dufour fortifications in front of the castle to the west consisted of the batteries of Arzillier ⊙ , Rhône ⊙ , Capucins ⊙ (right bank) and Château ⊙ as well as the Dufour tower ⊙ (left bank). The Saint-Maurice barrier was added in 1848 and 1859 (left: Redoute Vérrossaz ⊙ , right: Batteries Gautier ⊙ and Front Lavey ⊙ , Redoute de la Crête ⊙ ).
When the bullets filled with melinite explosives appeared in 1885, the Dufour fortifications built in 1831 in front of St-Maurice proved to be out of date and had to be replaced. From 1892, the fortress area of Saint-Maurice was expanded primarily with the artillery works Savatan-Dailly-Aiguille ⊙ as well as Cindey ⊙ and Fort du Scex ⊙ .
Museum and Dufour walking tour
The old customs house ⊙ at the foot of the castle was restored from 1963 to 1974 and now houses the collection of the cantonal military museum. Temporary exhibitions can be visited in the Saint-Maurice castle.
The Dufour fortifications (Fortifications Dufour) on the right bank of the Rhone ( "Fortifications de l'Arziller") can be visited on a one hour tour. ⊙
literature
- Chris Gravett: Atlas of Castles. The most beautiful castles and palaces . Tosa, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85492-470-4 , p. 96.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Fortress Saint-Maurice: building stages of the castle
- ^ Swiss Castles: Saint-Maurice
- ↑ Saint-Maurice Castle: History
- ^ Fortress Oberland: lock St. Maurice VS
- ^ Association for the promotion and support of the Swiss fortress DCA: History of the fortifications of St-Maurice
- ↑ Exhibitions in the castle
- ^ Fort Saint-Maurice: location plan Dufour fortresses
- ^ Saint-Maurice Tourism: Dufour Fortresses Route