Löwenberg Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Löwenberg Castle, also known as Château de la Motte, stands north of Morat (canton of Fribourg), in a strategic position on a slope. Its late Gothic core originates in a winegrower's house from the 15th–16th centuries, which became a manor house. In the late Middle Ages, the extensive estate, with its mills, farms, vineyards and inn, belonged to the Velga family of Fribourg; Sebastian von Diesbach was the first documented owner, in 1511. In 1794, the estate passed to the Neuchâtel banking family de Rougemont: Denis I de Rougemont and his sons converted the main building into a prestigious residence, built agricultural buildings and created an English-style landscape park, completed by 1839. A final reconstruction in 1888 added the orangery. Bought in 1973 by the CFF (Swiss Federal Railways), which set up its training centre there, the site was sold in 2017 to Novavest under a long-term lease and continues to be operated by the CFF as Centre Löwenberg, a seminar and conference centre. The castle is listed as a cultural property of national importance, as are the military installations of the Three Lakes defence line established on its grounds.