En un regard
Le château en bref
Montrottier Castle overlooks the Fier gorges from a rocky spur, about twelve kilometres west of Annecy, on the historic road linking Geneva and Chambéry: its position allowed it to control one of the rare crossing points over this torrent. Built from the Tower of the Religious Women (13th century), it was enlarged in the 14th century with the Knights' Lodging, the counts' quarters and the guardroom, then, in the 15th century, with the cylindrical keep, which gives it its pentagonal plan. Successively owned by Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy, the de Menthon family (1427–Revolution), the family of General Dufour, the Rochette family, and then the Lyon industrialists Frèrejean, it became the property of the collector Léon Marès in 1906, who bequeathed the castle and its collections (music, games, costumes, furniture, weapons, tableware, childhood) to the Académie florimontane in 1916. Listed as a historic monument as early as 1919, it was awarded the "Musée de France" label in 2003.