Valère Castle

The Valère Basilica (French: Basilique de Valère), also called Valère castle (French: Château de Valère), is a fortified Roman Catholic church situated in Sion in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It is located on a hill and faces the Château de Tourbillon, situated on the opposite hill. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The castle of Valère is located on the Valère hill at 615 meters (2,018 ft) above sea level and dominates the town of Sion in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. The castle's church is located at the top of the hill, the fortified village and its walls surround it. The relief of the Valère hill is very uneven and access to the castle is only possible from the north-east.

Since 1977, the site has been included in the Federal Inventory of Sites and Monuments of National Importance due to the large number of protected species present on Valère Hill. The fauna of the hill includes the European green lizard (Lacerta viridis), the European mantis (Mantis religiosa), the scarce swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius), the green-underside blue (Glaucopsyche alexis), the blue-winged grasshopper (Oedipoda caerulescens), the rock bunting (Emberiza cia), the common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), the common raven (Corvus Corax) and the common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). Valère's flora is composed of a feather grass (Stipa) species, Ephedra distachya, Indian fig (Opuntia humifusa), hoary berteroa (Berteroa incana), early star-of-Bethlehem (Gagea bohemica), cotton thistle (Onopordum acanthium), motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) and patience dock (Rumex patientia).

4.9 hectares (530,000 sq ft) of the Tourbillon Hill are also included in the catalogue of protected places in the category of dry meadows and pastures of national importance. This area was so classified in 2017 with the aim of conserving Switzerland's dry meadows and pastures, almost 95% of which have disappeared since 1900.

The Diocese was founded in Octodurum, now called Martigny, in the early 4th century. In 589 the bishop, St. Heliodorus, transferred the see to Sion, as Octodurum was frequently endangered by the inundations of the Rhone and the Drance. Very little is known about the early Bishops and the early churches in Sion. However, in the late 10th century the last King of Upper Burgundy Rudolph III, granted the County of Valais to Bishop Hugo (998–1017).

Text adapted from “Valère Basilica” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Valère Castle ranks #1,034 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #5 of the 200 mapped in Switzerland. Founded 1000, it is older than 92% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 129 atlas entries founded in the 10th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,574 times in the last 60 days, more than 78% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Lausanne, 65 km away. See how Switzerland compares in the castle statistics.

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