Chillon Castle. Chillon Castle is an island castle located on Lake Geneva, south of Veytaux in the canton of Vaud. It is situated at the eastern end of the lake, on the narrow shore between Montreux and Villeneuve, which gives access to the Alpine valley of the Rhône. Chillon is amongst the most visited castles in Switzerland and Europe. Successively occupied by the house of Savoy then by the Bernese from 1536 until 1798, it now belongs to the State of Vaud and is classified as a Swiss Cultural Property of National Significance. The fort of Chillon, its modern counterpart, is hidden in the steep side of the mountain. Chillon began as a Roman outpost, guarding the strategic road through the Alpine passes.The later history of Chillon was influenced by three major periods: the Savoy Period, the Bernese Period, and the Vaudois Period. The castle of Chillon is built on the island of Chillon, an oval limestone rock advancing in Lake Geneva between Montreux and Villeneuve with a steep side on one side and on the other side the lake and its steep bottom. The placement of the castle is strategic: it closes the passage between the Vaud Riviera and the Rhone valley which allows quick access to Italy. Moreover, the place offers an excellent point of view on the Savoyard coast facing. A garrison could thus control access to the road to Italy and apply a toll. According to the Swiss ethnologist Albert Samuel Gatschet, the name Chillon comes from Waldensian dialect and would mean flat stone, slab, platform. Castrum Quilonis would therefore mean castle built on a chillon, that is to say on a rock platform. The first construction dates back to around the 10th century, although it is likely that it was already a privileged military site before that date. Objects dating back to Roman times were discovered during excavations in the 19th century, as well as remains from the Bronze Age. From a double wooden palisade, the Romans would have fortified the site before a square dungeon was added in the 10th century. Sources from the 13th century link the possession of the Chillon site to the Bishop of Sion. A charter of 1150, where Count Humbert III grants the Cistercians of Hautcrêt free passage to Chillon, attests to the domination of the House of Savoy on Chillon. The owner of the castle is mentioned as Gaucher de Blonay, a vassal of the Count of Savoy. At the time it was a seigniorial domination of the Savoy within the framework of a feudal society and not an administrative domination. The oldest parts of the castle have not been definitively dated, but the first written record of the castle was in 1005. It was built to control the road from Burgundy to the Great Saint Bernard Pass. From the mid 12th century, the castle was summer home to the Counts of Savoy, who kept a fleet of ships on Lake Geneva. The castle was greatly expanded in 1248 and 1266-7 by Peter II. During this time the distinctive windows were added that would later be added to Harlech Castle by Master James of Saint George. During the 16th century Wars of Religion, it was used by the dukes of Savoy to house prisoners. Its most famous prisoner was probably François de Bonivard, a Genevois monk, prior of St. Victor in Geneva and politician who was imprisoned there in 1530 for defending his homeland from the dukes of Savoy. Over his six-year term, de Bonivard paced as far as his chain would allow, and the chain and rut are still visible. In 1536 the castle was captured by a Genevois and Bernese force. All the prisoners, including de Bonivard, were released. The castle became the residence for the Bernese bailiff until Chillon was converted into a state prison in 1733. In 1798, the French-speaking canton of Vaud drove out the German-speaking Bernese authorities and declared the Lemanic Republic. The Vaudois invited in French troops to help them maintain autonomy from the other Swiss. When the French moved in and occupied, Chillon was used as a munitions and weapons depot. At the end of the 19th century, structures were set up for a scientific restoration of the monument. This systematic undertaking, a true laboratory where an ethic of monumental restoration is developed, was considered quite exemplary. It was boasted in particular by Johann Rudolf Rahn in a lecture given in 1898 to the Zurich Antiquity Society, and the German Emperor himself, William II, inquired about the Chillon model in view of the reconstruction of the fortress of Haut-Koenigsbourg.