Château de Gruyères

The castle houses quite a few splendid objects. It has a temporary exhibit: from the 12th of May until the 4th of November 2012, the museum is displaying Takawira Tuckson Muvezwa’s sculptures. Its permanent exhibit is housed in the “Fantastic Art Room.” You could discover the Château a little bit more by clicking here.

One of the coolest rooms–besides the Fantastic Art Room–is the Knight’s Room. The room was painted completely in order to cover a frieze bearing the arms of the bailiffs of Fribourg. Painted by Henri Baron and Barthélemy Menn, the room represents events occurring from the year 400 until 1476, all pertaining to legends held about the castle. For example, in 400, Gruerius, the founder of Gruyères, captured a crane and chose it as the representative animal; in 1476, Count Louis fought at the Battle of Morat against Charles the Bold.

With regards to the Fantastic Art Room, notice how practically all of the paintings incorporate the castle as their subject. All of the paintings are modern masterpieces, with the oldest having been painted in 1990, and the youngest in 2001.

If you can believe it, the pianoforte in the Music Room was built in Geneva by J. W. Braschoss in 1835, for Mr. Franz Liszt! God knows how it ended up in the castle. As for the severed hand in Corridor II, it is a real severed hand of a mummy from Egypt, and as there was an entire folklore associated with Egyptian objects, it was of high interest to the Swiss (well it wasn’t exactly Switzerland then, but you get the point).

Vaulted Room

Courtyard

Courtyard

Ancient Armoury

Kitchen

View from Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Guard Room

Fireplace in Guard Room

Window in Guard Room

Window in Guard Room

Burgundian Room

One of the three capes of the Golden Fleece Order, held in the Burgundian Room

Burgundian Room

Burgundian Room

The symbol of the city on the top of the window

The “severed hand” of a mummy, in Corridor I

Bailiff’s Room

Bailiff’s Room

Fireplace in the Bailiff’s Room

Windows in Bailiff’s Room

Corot’s Room

The Room of the Counts

The Room of the Counts

Chart of Lineage in the Room of the Counts

Tapestry in the Room of the Counts

The Room of the Counts

Zodiac Paintings in the Fantastic Art Room; all following paintings are from the Fantastic Art Room

Zodiac Paintings

Siomash – Gaïa, déesse de la terre, dans la ronde zodiacale

Aparin – La musique des sphères

Aparin – La Nef des Fous: Romont

Dulbecco – Le bâteau de pierre

Durovic – L’arc du désir

Arnas – La Nef des Fous

Woodroffe – Sur l’eau du sablier

Tonsic – Ex oriente lux: La magicienne

Popovic – Le mystère du Château de Gruyères

Setowski – Sous le signe des Poissons: Jeux de pouvoir

Jan – Songe d’une longue nuit d’hiver

Roosevelt – Le songe de Gruérius le Vert

Giger – A la conquête de la Toison d’Or

Siomash – Quand sont venues les eaux hautes

Salerne – L’âge d’or du comte de Gruyères

Planté – Gruyères magique

Stoev – La Saint-Jean à Gruyères

View of the garden from balcony

View of mountains from the balcony

View from balcony

View from balcony

Panoramic view of the mountains

Balcony

Music Room

Music Room

Music Room

Hunting Room

Hunting Room

Baroque Room

Baroque Room

Knights’ Room

Knights’ Room

Knights’ Room

Armoire in Corridor II

View from window onto French Style Landscape Garden

View from top of Chapel

Some artwork in Chapel

View from Chapel

What we thought was a sleigh, turned out to be a cannon!

Here’s how we figured out the last contraption was not a sleigh.

View of the castle from the French Style Garden

View of the castle from the French Style Garden

Tuckson’s scultpures against landscape

Tuckson’s sculpture

Tuckson’s sculpture