Lucens Castle is a castle in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Lucens Lucens () is a municipality in the Broye-Vully district in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. In 2017 the former municipalities of Brenles, Chesalles-sur-Moudon, Cremin, Forel-sur-Lucens and Sarzens merged into the municipality of Lucens. Hist ...

in the canton of

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

History

The castle's strategic location allowed it to control the

Broye The Broye (; frp, Brouye''Dictionnaire-Dikchenéro: Français-Patois/Patê-Franché''. Société cantonale des patoisans fribourgeois. Fribourg: 2013. p. 87 ) is a 68 km long river, in the cantons of Fribourg and Vaud, in Switzerland. It has ...

valley, which was an important transit corridor. Starting in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and until 1536 it was a residence of the

Bishop of Lausanne The Bishop of Lausanne (French: ''Évêque de Lausanne'') was a Prince-Bishop of the Holy Roman Empire (since 1011) and the Ordinary of the diocese of Lausanne, Switzerland (Latin: ''Dioecesis Lausannensis''). Bern secularized the bishopric in ...

and served to control the Bishop's land in the Broye valley. During the 12th Century, the castle was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. In 1476, it was destroyed by the

Swiss Confederation ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. In 1536 the valley and the surrounding territory were conquered by

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

. It became the seat of a Bernese

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

at the same time. In 1542, the

vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

of Moudon moved into the castle. It was enlarged between 1579–86 and served as an arsenal and fortress on the border to

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

. In 1798, the Bernese were forced out and the

Canton of Léman Léman was the name of a canton of the Helvetic Republic from 1798 to 1803, corresponding to the territory of modern Vaud. A former subject territory of Bern, Vaud had been independent for only four months in 1798 as the Lemanic Republic befor ...

was formed. Shortly thereafter, the castle became the property of Canton, who sold it 1801 to private individuals. In 1925, it was converted into a Swiss Reformed institute for girls. Between 1965-70, it was the seat of the Conan Doyle Foundation, and is now in private hands.

Lucens Guidelines for Protecting Schools from Military Use

On 26–28 November 2012, experts from around the world met at Lucens Castle, to discuss developing international guidelines to better protect schools and universities from military use. The resulting document is known as th
Draft Lucens Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict
The Draft Lucens Guidelines urge all parties to armed conflict "not to use schools and universities for any purpose in support of the military effort", and then provides six guidelines of "responsible practice" for parties so as to avoid impinging on students' safety and education. The finalized guidelines then became available for countries to endorse through the

Safe Schools Declaration The Safe Schools Declaration is an inter-governmental political commitment that was opened for endorsement by countries at an international conference held in Oslo, Norway, on 28–29 May 2015. The Declaration provides countries the opportunity to e ...

, and have gone on to influence national legislation and military doctrine and policy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucens Castle Castles in Vaud Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Vaud

History

Lucens Guidelines for Protecting Schools from Military Use

See also

References

External links