Sonia en Route

With over 40 rooms to visit, Chateau de Chillon has every room imaginable to present to us life in the Middle Ages. I shall not show you photographs from each one; that would, I fear, take away all the anticipation you may have in seeing for yourself all that the castle has to offer 🙂 But I will show you a few pictures from a few rooms. Not necessarily the most beautiful, but those that had some peronal meaning for me.

The dining room possessed one of the biggest fire places that I have seen. Rightly so too, since a whole pig or a wild boar might have been roasting on its spit while the jolly company of guests rested at the huge wooden tables toasting the host or the succesful hunt with tankards of beer. At least that is what I imagined when I entered this room. I tried not to see modern tables and chairs that looked too small and insignificant in this huge room.

The small bedroom felt cozy and snug, even though the walls were rough, the wooden floor without a carpet, and the window was rather small. And yet, even the wooden floor would be warm to the touch when the wood stove was hot.  The window gave just enough light to iluminate this small chamber and make it feel pleasant. A nice room to rest, even by medieval standards, which is more the pity, because the person who slept there would probably be occupied in other rooms of the castle for the whole day and would not have time for leisure.

The coat-of-arms hall was truly magnificent. All walls around this room had coat-of-arms depicting the history of the owners of Chateau de Chillon. In the Middle Ages this was a reception hall and rightly so, for it spoke of the magnificence of the current ruler and his long and glorious past.

The chapel of Saint George was a private chapel of the counts and dukes that owned the castle. What remains of the frescoes and paintings on the walls has been restored. One can only imagine the beauty of this place as it was in the past. In the 19th century, when the castle became a prison, this was the place of worship for the prisoners.

One of the main halls with a magnificent ceiling. It surprised me to see the designs on the beams – the squigglies 🙂 And the pink flowers 🙂 They had such a modern appeal, and yet have been painted a long time ago and in such a official room. Today the chamber is used for receptions, gala dinners, and concerts. What an unforgettable evening this must be to sit in this room, listen to music, and let your imagination take you to the times long past 🙂