Bâtie-Beauregard

The Bâtie-Beauregard - which can be translated from French as "building with a beautiful gaze" - is a ruined hill castle in the municipality of Collex-Bossy and one of the few remnants of a medieval castle in what is now the Canton of Geneva in Switzerland.

The fortress used to carry the names Bâtie-Champion after the noble family of de Champion, who were the main owners until the end of the 16th century, and Bâtie-sur-Versoix because of its geographic location, respectively. In later times the place of its ruines was simply called La Bâtie or La Bastie and most recently La Vieille Bâtie ("the old building").

The complex consisted of two parts: the larger one on the western side hosted a barn, some annexes and a garden for agricultural supplies. The rectangular area was surrounded by a moat.

The rock castle itself was built to the east of that part on a rock formation which defined its structure. That location was strategic since it towered over the embankment of the Versoix to its East and South and the forest hills on the other side of the river. It was secured against the high plain on its northern side and separated from the agricultural supply part to its western side by a moat, accessible only over a drawbridge there. On the southern side of the fortress above the steep slope were the residential buildings and the tower, which was laid out in a square. This bergfried had a diameter of some eight meters.

The entire eastern side towards was occupied by rooms as well, including the kitchen, and fortified by brick-structures on the rock bases. All those details were written down in a court-case from 1541 against burglars who had tried to break into the castle by climbing through a window.

Below the fortress was a bridge over the river. The castle was thus well-suited to defend the area west of the Versoix:

The Swiss archaeologist Louis Blondel (1885–1967), who served as the first director of Geneva's cantonal archaeological service, argued that strategic location had probably been used as a military installation already before the end of the 13th century. However, there is no evidence for that thesis, also because the site was never systematically excavated.

The fortress was first mentioned in a document in 1299. Blondel estimated that it was constructed around 1278.

Text adapted from “Bâtie-Beauregard” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Bâtie-Beauregard ranks #7,127 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #194 of the 200 mapped in Switzerland. Founded 1278, it is older than 67% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 825 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 12 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Geneva, 10 km away. See how Switzerland compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗