Looking out to the lake. It was very close!

Really old steps!

The opening size and shape depended on the period and what the major weapon was at the time. This small one might have been for an arrow.

Part of the dungeon.

Chillon was made popular by Lord Byron, who wrote the poem The Prisoner Of Chillon (1816) about François de Bonivard, a Genevois monk and politician who was imprisoned there from 1530 to 1536; Byron also carved his name the pillar in the dungeon where Byron thought Bonivar had been chained.

François Bonivard was arrested by the Duke of Savoy. He was imprisoned in this basement in semi-darkness for 6 years with only his imagination. In "The Chronicles of Geneva" which he wrote after he was freed, he spoke of the terror of being chained to the 5th pillar in the cellar which was lower than the lake.

Some of the wooden slats are still left from where they made the basement ceiling.

Chillon has been the inspiration for many poems and paintings.