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Origin and history

The Château de Bonneville, also known as Château des Sires de Faucigny or Béatrix de Faucigny, is an ancient 13th century castle restored in the 16th century. Its remains stand on a rocky hill at an altitude of 450 metres, overlooking the town of Bonneville in Haute-Savoie. It controlled the confluence of the Arve and the Borne, and was the seat of a chestnutry from the thirteenth century. The ruins have been listed as historical monuments since 1987.

The present castle was erected around 1290 by Béatrice de Faucigny, known as the Grande Dauphine, replacing a wooden fort built in 1262 by his father, Pierre de Savoie. The town, originally named Toisinge(s), was renamed Bona villa ("the Good City") by Beatrice in 1289. The castle became a strategic issue: in 1304 Béatrice gave the Faucigny as an inheritance to his grandson Hugues de la Tour du Pin. In 1309, Hugues' marriage contract with Marie de Savoie, daughter of Amédée V, was signed.

In the 14th century, the castle became the administrative and judicial center of Faucigny under Amédée VI de Savoie, who donated it to his wife Bonne de Bourbon in 1355. Ravaged by a fire in 1392 or 1393, it was restored in 1583. In the 16th century, he resisted victoriously in the wars between Savoy and Geneva and France. He was transformed into a prison in the 17th and 18th centuries and lost his home and retained this function until 1934, before being bought by the commune.

Architecturally, the castle illustrates the model of the Savoyard square castle: a quadrangular enclosure flanked by round towers, of which remain the Black Tower (21 m) and the White Tower (15 m), erected by Beatrice de Faucigny. The cylindrical dungeon (11th century) and the Gothic chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine complete the whole. The western part, redesigned for prisons, only retains a walled window. Two excavation campaigns were conducted in 2019 by the departmental council.

The castle was the heart of a castle of the Faucigny, organized around 9 to 17 orders between the 12th and 14th centuries. The Châtelaines, officers appointed by the Count of Savoie, managed tax revenues there and represented local grievances. The site, opened in summer, is visited for its two towers, its courtine and its square courtyard.

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