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Origin and history

The Château de Pieuillet, located in the Haute-Savoie department in the commune of Marcellaz-Albanians, has been a strictly residential monument since its construction. Unlike many castles in the region, it never played a defensive role. It is distinguished by its body of rectangular stone houses, flanked by two square towers, and a chapel arranged in the north tower. The estate is located on a hilltop overlooking the Rumilly Plain, in an agricultural and humid environment, between the villages of Sales and Marcellaz-Albanians.

At the end of the 16th century, the castle belonged to Philippe Critain, lord of Montregard, who bequeathed the estate to his son François Critain. He sold it in 1617 to his cousin François the Judge, a member of a family anobligated in 1498 and established in Rumilly since the 14th century. The judges, prosecutors and then Chatelans, marked the history of the castle: Philiberte Judge founded in 1650 the college of Rumilly, while his descendants, like Augustus de Jeur (1797–63), illustrated as magistrates, senators and writers. Auguste, a poet admired by Lamartine and Gautier, died in the castle after a political career marked by the annexation of Savoy to France in 1860.

In the 20th century, the castle changed hands several times: bought by Felix Sage in 1927, then by the Curt family, it was rented from 1938 to 1973 to a holiday colony, like other local monuments. Once restored by Mr Behaghel, in 1993 he became the property of Monsieur and Mrs Durand. Although private and not open to the public, the castle inspires artists, such as the painter Jean Claude Raboin or the poet Joseph Berlioz, who celebrates Rumilly and its surroundings in The Awakening (1882). Its architecture and history reflect the social and cultural evolution of Haute-Savoie, between Savoyard nobility and rural life.

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