Château Glérolles (Saint-Saphorin)

To the west of Saint-Saphorin, on a rock on the shore of Lake Geneva, stands Glérolles Castle, which was built at the beginning of the 14th century. Only a few elements of the old medieval fortress still exist today. Since the 16th century, the castle has undergone many transformations, and the original defensive structure gradually became a purely representative building.

With the construction of the railway, the area around the castle was permanently changed. To the west, the original character of the castle has been preserved. Here still stands the base of the watchtower, which in its time was built with large quarry stones, and whose old lithography shows us its original size. It was twice as high as today and covered with a pointed pyramidal roof.

On the mountain side, a semicircular tower stands next to the watchtower. Its base consists of large blocks of irregular height made of quarry stone. These are probably remnants of the enclosure wall. According to the composition of the buildings, Glérolles Castle has therefore known various construction phases. Significant alterations were undertaken on the eastern wing around 1500.