Author: Maarten Koning

Vufflens Castle, Vullierens Castle and L’Isle Castle

Vufflens Castle near Morges (canton of Vaud) is the most impressive example of late medieval castles in western Switzerland (the French-speaking part of the country).

Unlike many other medieval castles in this region, it was not built in the Savoyard style, which was the ruling style of the Pays du Vaud at the time. The main features are the use of brick and an architectural style from Piedmont, both unique to this region.

Morges Castle, Savoyard style

The complex was built around 1415 during the reign of Henri de Colombier (1368-1437). There was already a castle on this site in the 11th or 12th century. However, he built an entirely new castle built. At the time, he was in the service of the Duke of Savoy and an army commander in Italy, where he got the inspiration for his castle.

Only the castle’s core is intact of the originally very elaborate complex. The medieval outer walls and defences have disappeared. The current castle comprises a residential Palais, a huge watchtower surrounded by four corner towers, and a walled courtyard.

The castle is unique in this region in its monumentality. It combines the pursuit of residential comfort, defence, prestige, self-presentation, and exclusivity.

From 1641 to 1860, the De Senarclens family from nearby Senarclens owned the castle. De Saussure family has owned the castle since 1860. Its most famous member is the scientist, alpinist and Mont-Blanc climber Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799).

The Dutch heraldry of De Senarclens 

In 1822, Onno de Senarclens (1780-1836) was raised to the peerage in the Netherlands (Baron, Lord of Haanwijk, Boxtel and Liempde ) because of his merits in the army and perhaps in connection with the prominent role of Hendrick Jan van Oyen (1750-1821) in Waadt and Morges in particular.

The castle cannot be visited. However, the vineyards surrounding it and the villages of Vufflens-le-Château and Denens offer breathtaking views of this fairytale castle, Lake Geneva, the Alps, and, on a clear day, Mont Blanc.

Was the castle the inspiration for the castles of Vullierens and L’Isle?

Or:

“Vufflens n’est pas un château. C’est un conte de fées. C’est Chillon en plus ciselé, c’est Neuschwanstein en plus raisonnable. C’est un rêve, une carte postale. Avec la silhouette élancée de son formidable donjon, son vignoble sereinement étalé plein sud au pied du colosse de brique, il symbolise le Pays de Vaud: tradition sans rigueur malgré sa facture piémontaise, élégance débonnaire, sagesse souriante. Oui, ce château apparaît comme un phare luxueux veillant paternellement sur l’océan de vignes qui déferle sur les hauteurs morgiennes” (Source: Editions 24 heures, Les Châteaux viticoles du Pays de Vaud, 1990).

(Source and further information: www.swisscastles.ch)

Praz and the Celts, a small village with a great History

The small village Praz (commune de Mont-Vully) is situated near the ancient Celtic settlement (oppidum) on Mont-Vully (canton of Freiburg) at Lake Morat (Murtensee or lac de Morat).

This small village shares in the eventful history of the Romandie or French-speaking Switzerland. The Celtic settlement of Mont-Vully is one of the remains of the tribe of the Helvetians.

Mont Vully from Lake Neuchâtel and near Praz

This period was followed by the Roman period (15 B.C. – c. 400 A.D.), the invasions of the Alemanni, the first kingdom of Burgundy (c. 464- 534), the Frankish kings and emperors (534-843), the Kingdom of Lorraine (founded by the Treaty of Verdun in 843) and the (second) Burgundian Kingdom (888-1032).

Château de Praz

Praz became part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Duchy of Zähringen after that. The House of Savoy ruled until the conquest by Freiburg and Bern in 1476. Praz became part of the canton of Freiburg in 1803 (Mediationsakte).

The villages of Sugiez, Nant, Praz and Chaumont merged in 1850 into the municipality of Vully-le-Bas or Les Quatre Villages de la Rivière. Praz is a small village with a great history.

The Murtensee (lac de Morat) and Murten (Morat)

The canal de la Broye and le pont de Sugiez

Impressions of Praz and the region

Vullierens, its Church and Abbey

Vullierens (canton of Vaud) was already inhabited in Roman times. In the Middle Ages, it fell under the Barony of Cossonay. Bern conquered the Pays du Vaud (roughly the area of today’s canton) from the Duchy of Savoie in 1536.

From then on, the village fell under the district of Morges and the rule of Bern. Bailiffs governed the area until 1798. In that year, France conquered the old predominantly German-speaking Eidgenossenschaft of 13 cantons (only Fribourg/Freiburg was bilingual) and their ‘Untertanengebiete'(including French-speaking Vaud (Waadt in German).

This Confederation, too, was not long-lived, namely until 1813 and Napoleon’s defeat. This construction was followed in 1815 by a new Confederation with three new cantons and the present Confederation in 1848.

The church

Throughout the centuries, Vullierens has maintained its agricultural outlook and size. The influence of Protestant Bern led to the transition from Catholicism to Protestantism after 1536. Despite these changes, the (protestant) church, first mentioned in 1228 and rebuilt in 1733, and the former abbey, dating back to the early 16th century, continue to stand as a wittness to the village’s rich religious history.

The Abbey

(Source: F. Béboux, Vullierens, Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse)