Aigle - Château d’Aigle

Aigle lies about 13 km south-southeast of Montreux at the east edge of the Rhône valley.

Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV gave the territory of Aigle in 1076 to the house of Savoy. The Abbeys of Great Saint Bernard and Saint-Maurice also had holdings in Aigle, and the latter established a priory, from which the village of Le Cloître takes its name.

In 1231, Aigle was made a market town and in 1314 it was raised to a free town by Amadeus V of Savoy. It became an important commercial center because of its location on the road to Italy. After an Italian mercenary army marched through the Rhone Valley in 1475 to support Charles the Bold, Bern took this as an opportunity to conquer Aigle and so reach control over the lower Rhone valley.

The castle was burned down during the fight but Bern had the castle rebuilt and made it the seat of a provincial governor. Aigle became one of the first French-speaking districts in Bern. The representatives of Bern resided here until the French invasion in 1798. In 1804 the castle was acquired by the municipality of Aigle and used as a cantonal prison until 1976.

Today the castle houses the "Musée de la Vigne et du Vin".