The Château d'Annecy is a restored

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

which dominates the old French town of

Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

in the Haute-Savoie '' département''. It was bought by the town, restored and transformed into a museum, ''le musée-château d'Annecy''. The castle is listed as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' by the French Ministry of Culture since 1959. Château

History

The castle was built between the 12th and 16th centuries. It served as the residence of the Counts of Geneva and the Dukes of Genevois-Nemours. Several times the victim of fires, the castle was abandoned in the 17th century and later repaired to serve as a barracks until 1947. The town of Annecy acquired the castle in 1953, restored it with the help of Monuments historiques and installed a museum there. Since 1993, the Tower and the ''Logis Perrière'' have housed an observatory (''l'Observatoire régional des lacs alpins'').

Description

The ''Tour de la Reine'' (Queen's Tower) is the oldest part of the castle, dating from the 12th century. Its walls are over 4 m (13 ft) thick. At the bottom of the courtyard, the tower and the ''Logis Perrière'' date from the 15th century. Other notable parts of the castle are: the ''Vieux Logis'', the '' Logis Nemours'', the ''Logis Neuf''. From the castle terrace there is a view over the old town with its narrow streets and decorated roofs. The museum is installed in the ''Logis Vieux'' and the ''Logis Nemours''. The observatory is in the Tower and the ''Logis Perrière''.

Museums

Of particular note is the Museum of Alpine Popular Art (''Musée d'art populaire alpin'') with numerous regional sculptures and paintings. There is an important collection of vernacular furniture, dating from the 15th century onwards, sculpted objects, photographs and models of Alpine chalets.

Observatory

''L'Observatoire régional des lacs alpins'' (