Greifensee Castle (Schloss Greifensee)

Schloss Greifensee rises at the edge of a small lakeside town in the canton of Zurich, a short distance east of the city, and it has been a landmark of the shore for many centuries. The town takes its name from the lake and from the castle, and the whole ensemble, with its waterfront, old streets and the castle's thick walls, gives a sense of a miniature medieval settlement tucked beside Zurich's commuter belt.

The first fortress here was built in the Middle Ages under the lords who held the area, and the castle later passed into Habsburg and then Zurich hands. The city of Zurich acquired the lordship in the early fifteenth century, and the castle became the seat of a bailiff who governed the district for centuries, until the end of the old regime at the close of the eighteenth century. The best-known event in its history is the siege of 1444 during the Old Zurich War. After a long defence, the garrison surrendered to Confederate forces, and the defenders were executed, an episode remembered in Swiss history as the Greifensee killings.

The building also has a literary connection. The Swiss author Gottfried Keller wrote a novella, The Bailiff of Greifensee, set in the castle in the eighteenth century, which presents a gentle and ironic portrait of the bailiff and his past loves. The story helped fix the castle in the national imagination.

Today the castle is a protected monument of national importance. It remains in use rather than serving as a museum, and parts of the interior are not generally open to the public, so a visit is mostly about the exterior, the position by the water, and the town around it. Check ahead if you want to see the interior, as access varies with events and local arrangements.

The pleasure of a visit lies in the setting. A lakeside promenade runs along the Greifensee, and the shores and reed beds nearby are home to many water birds and are a protected landscape. A walk from the castle along the water, perhaps continuing to the neighbouring villages, makes an easy half-day outing from Zurich. In summer the lake is used for swimming, boating and fishing, and autumn light gives the whole shore a soft, golden look.