Barberêche Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Barberêche Castle stands on the edge of the plateau, above Lake Schiffenen, in the territory of the former municipality of Barberêche, now part of Courtepin (canton of Fribourg). It was built between 1522 and 1528 under the direction of Petermann de Praroman, avoyer of Fribourg, in the late Gothic style, on the site of a medieval fortress that the records describe in 1519 as a fortified house. The lordship, attested from the twelfth century, had many holders — Mettlen, Mossu, d'Arsent, Diesbach, Praroman and then Estavayer-Mollondin — before passing in 1836 to the Zurich family, which kept it until 1988. Between 1839 and 1844, a major programme of works gave it its present appearance, inspired by the Neo-Gothic and Neoclassical styles. The Renaissance garden that accompanied it is known through the commentary left about it by Nicolas de Praroman (1560–1607). Restored in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and now divided into properties by floor, the castle is a Swiss cultural property of national significance.