Aigle Castle


Aigle Castle is a historical and cultural landmark of Switzerland . It is located in the city of the same name, whose name translates as "eagle" - by the name of the first owners of urban land.

A bit of history

The castle of Aigle was erected by them at the end of the 12th century, and in the thirteenth century succeeded the owners - the rights to it were transferred to Signori de Sillon. All this time these lands were under the protectorate of the Dukes of Savoy. In 1475 Bern's troops captured the city, and the castle was completely burnt; However, it was soon restored by its own invaders, and in 1489 it was rebuilt a little. In addition to the protective function, it also served as the residence of the governors of Bern .

At the very end of the XVIII century, the canton of Lehmann (later renamed to Wo) as a result of the revolution gained independence, and the castle became the property of the city authorities. It contained a hospital, a court, and a municipality. Later, the castle began to be used as a prison and performed this function until 1972. In 1972, the prisoners were transferred to Vevey prison, since none of the residents of the town of Aigle was willing to serve as a jailer. After that, the castle was opened for tourists, and the Museum of Wine and Viticulture was established within its walls.

Museum of winemaking

The town of Aigle is the capital of the wine region of Chablais; here are produced such famous among the connoisseurs of white wines as Les Murailles, for the production of which is used grapes from the vineyard Badoux, and Crosex Grillé Grand Cru. Thanks to gravel-clay soils, grapes here have a special taste, and white wines are very specific, with notable fruit notes. Here grapes were grown and wine was made even during the reign of the Roman Empire. Actually, the wines are the second (after the castle) local landmark. Therefore it is not surprising that the wine museum was located in the castle of Aigle.

The exposition of the museum of wine and viticulture tells about more than 1,500-year history of winemaking. Here you can see old presses for crushing grapes (the oldest one dates back to 1706), distillers, signboards, collections of bottles, corkscrews, corks, decanters and wine glasses, visit the reconstructed workshop and davilna. Also the museum offers to visit the reconstructed kitchen of the middle of the XIX century. In the basement are stored barrels, which used to be used for wine storage - now such large barrels are not used for these purposes. The whole hall is dedicated to the World Wine Festival, which is held in neighboring Vevey once in 25 years.

By the way, you can get to another museum connected with winemaking, not far from the castle: directly opposite it is the building of Maison de la Dime, in which the museum of wine labels operates. The museum exposition consists of more than 800 names of wine labels from 52 countries.

How to get to the castle?

To get to the castle, you must first take the train to Visp or to Lausanne and change to the train going to Aigle. There is also a direct train straight from Geneva airport , it runs every half hour. On a rented car from Lausanne you can take the A9 motorway , the distance is about 40 km.

One of the most beautiful castles in Switzerland runs from April to October inclusive and takes visitors all days of the week, except Mondays. Working hours - from 10-00 to 18-00 with a break for lunch from 12-30 to 14-00. In July and August he works without days off and without breaks. The ticket costs 11 CHF, for children from 6 to 16 years - 5 CHF.