Welcome to Tourbillon Castle, former residence of the Prince-Bishop of Sion

The castle of Tourbillon on the hill (protected nature reserve) opposite Valère, was built at the turn of the C 13th and 14th by bishop Boniface de Challant, a native of Savoy, who made it his principal residence. From 1373, with the purchase of the castle of the Majorie, Tourbillon was relegated to the rank of summer residence, but its majestic silhouette still remained as a symbol of Episcopal power; a power against which the nobles of the Valais rebelled on many occasions. The castle was definitively ruined during the fire which destroyed part of the town of Sion in 1788. At the heart of the impressive crenellated ruins, the Saint-Georges and Saint-Grat chapel is still well preserved. Built and decroated with a first series of paintings at the beginning of the C 14th then restored with a new series of paintings in the middle of the C 15th, under the instigation of the tireless Guillaume de Rarogne.