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Origin and history

The castle of La Sallaz, also called the fortified house of Grande-Salle, is a medieval building built after 1282 by the sons of Pierre de Beaufort. Their father, having lost the castle of the Outards, obtained permission from Béatrice de Faucigny to build this new fortress. In 1320 Hugues de Faucigny granted them the right of justice on their lands. At the death of Robert de Genève in 1394, the strong house passed into the hands of the Thoire-Villars family, including Humbert and Odon de Villars.

In 1401, Odon de Villars sold the house, as well as the county of Geneva, to Amédée VIII de Savoie. The latter infaode in 1424 to John II of Beaufort, a jurisconsult known for his work on the Statuta Sabaudiae, the first Savoyard legal code. The sister of John II, Florimonde, married Pierre d'Héry, and their heirs, at the origin of the Beaufort branch of Villard-Chabot, kept the strong house before she changed owners. The castle played a strategic role during the Franco-Savoyard war: on October 10, 1600, Henri IV spent the night there before going to the Cormet d'Arêches to monitor the movements of Charles Emmanuel I of Savoie.

Architecturally, the strong house consists of a massive hall of the late 13th century, almost square (14.50 × 15.50 meters), with thick walls of 1.20 meters. A square tower of 4 meters side, 18 to 20 meters high, flanks the west facade. The seigneurial house, on two floors, includes a large room on the ground floor with fireplace, as well as an underground room used as a prison. The upper floors reproduce a similar arrangement, with a single room on the second floor.

In the 18th century, the fortified house belonged to the jurisconsulte Mansord de Villard-sur-Doron. In 1939, its ruins were owned by the Joly family. Today, there are only remains of this construction, completed once by an addiction, the strong house of the Crey, of which nothing remains.

Located on the left bank of Argentina, before its confluence with the Doron, the castle of La Sallaz illustrates the feudal and military history of Savoy. His occupation by noble families, his change of hands and his role in regional conflicts made him a key witness to Savoyard heritage.

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