La Roche-sur-Foron Castle

La Roche-sur-Foron Castle, locally known as Château de La Roche-sur-Foron, Château du Rocher or Tour des Comtes de Genève, lies in the center of the town of La Roche-sur-Foron, in the Haute-Savoie department in France.

This tower was the keep of La Roche-sur-Foron Castle. The keep was built between 1258 and 1268, replacing an 11th century lookout tower. The keep was one of the first round towers built in the region on the architectural model that Peter II, Count of Savoy, brought home after a long stay in England. The castle was built around a large rock, on a hill above the Foron stream and was an integral part of the town's defenses.

In 1590, during the war between the Duke of Savoy and the Republic of Geneva, an ally of the king of France, the castle was destroyed after a siege by troops from Geneva.

In 1617 the Capuchin monks bought this site and erected their monastery. But in 1792 the tower and the monastery were sold as national property, and the tower was used as a quarry by its new owners. At the end of the 19th century the Capuchin monks again bought the tower and saved it from final destruction by shoring it up with small stones.

At present La Roche-sur-Foron Castle can be visited for a small fee. As I visited out of season it was closed, alas, but I think you would get a great view from the top of this robust tower. Just some hundred meters to the north lies another castle in this town; Echelle Castle.

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