Château de Trésum

The Château de Trésum is located in the French department of Haute-Savoie in the commune of Annecy. Built on a hillside on the northern slopes of the Semnoz mountain, it overlooks Lake Annecy.

In 1649, Bishop Charles-Auguste de Sales, nephew of Saint Francis de Sales, Prince-Bishop of Geneva in 1645, purchased a house from the Mermillod family, with an orchard, vineyards, woods, and a garden, in order to build his residence there. In 1653, during the opening of the construction site, a medal of Emperor Domitian was discovered. Partially built from 1653 to 1656, the building remained unfinished, and Charles-Auguste de Sales moved in in 1656 for the feast of the Holy Trinity. Upon his death in 1660, the castle passed to his brother Jean-François de Sales, Count of Thorens, who had the date 1601 engraved on the doors. It remained in the de Sales family until the French Revolution. Confiscated from Marquis Benoît-Maurice de Sales, it initially served as lodging for French troops, then it was rented to citizen Jean-Claude Burnod, a lawyer, prosecutor-syndic of Annecy, and a member of the literary academy of the Arcades in Rome. The latter made it the headquarters of the Jacobin Club. Sacked during the anti-revolutionary riot of August 21, 1793, known as the "Bagarre d'Annecy," led by Count d'Alex, François-Marie de La Fléchère, the castle was repurchased shortly after by Recordon. In January 1796, Dubouloz, a refractory vicar general, met François-Thérèse Panisset, constitutional bishop of the Mont-Blanc department, there. Under the Restoration, the castle was in the hands of Prefect Félix de Roussy, made Marquis by the King of Sardinia, who repurchased the former property of his wife's family, Pauline de Sales. Then, through marriage, it passed to the de Pontgibaud family. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was the residence of Baron Bardet de Thieux. The castle, completed at that time, was bequeathed to the Visitandines, and became the residence of the Jesuits. Since 1993, Bishop Hubert Barbier has had the seat of the Bishopric of Annecy transferred there.

The Château de Trésum today appears as a quadrangular building, flanked at its four corners by a watchtower. With the exception of the eastern part, which dates from the 17th century, the rest of the building dates back to the first half of the 20th century. An inscription desired by Charles-Auguste de Sales, Tres Unum Sunt nomen V.S. salus (in honor of the Trinity), adorns the pediment of the two entrance doors. It is the origin of the castle's name and later, that of the surrounding neighborhood.

Charles-Auguste de Sales decorated the interior with, notably, a full-length portrait of Louis de Sales, his father, and supposed portraits of the provosts of the Geneva cathedral chapter that he had painted, all accompanied by pagan paintings inspired by mythology. Today, only a painted ceiling, rediscovered in 1992, remains of the decor where the de Sales family lived. This ceiling depicts escutcheoned motifs supposedly recalling the traditional toga of mushroom pickers in the Region.

Charles-Auguste de Sales also had a pavilion built at the edge of the woods, south of the castle. The latter has a large porch at its base, which shelters a well, and on the upper floor, a vaulted room. Since then, the Jesuits have placed a wooden statue of Blessed Pierre Favre under the porch. The arms of the de Sales family are affixed to the vault of the single room on the upper floor.