Château de Vidy, Castle in Lausanne, Switzerland

The Château de Vidy is a castle in Lausanne, Switzerland. It consists of a large two-storey building with pale cream walls and exposed stone corner quoins, featuring a taller left section with a steep pitched roof of brown tiles and a small dormer window, and a right wing with a lower, hipped tiled roof and small dormer windows, both with green shutters flanking rectangular windows, a glass-walled entrance extension at the lower left, a round-topped doorway in the left facade, and an arched door in the right wing, all set behind a lawn and low hedge.

Construction of the château began in 1771 under Captain Louis de Loys, and the interior was fitted out a few years later. In 1968 the International Olympic Committee moved its headquarters here, and the building was renovated between 1978 and 1984.

The name Vidy comes from the old form Vizi, used around the year 1200, which later became Viti and finally Vidy in the sixteenth century. Today the building is known as the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee, and its lakeside setting makes it a familiar landmark for people walking or cycling along the shore.

The site is easy to reach from the lakeside road between Lausanne and Saint-Sulpice, and the grounds are open to walkers who want to see the building from the lawn. Visitors should note that the interior is not open to the public, so the visit is best combined with a stroll along the nearby lakefront.

Napoleon Bonaparte stopped at the château in 1800 and spent half an hour in the salon before reviewing his troops. Voltaire was also received there, and a bust of Cato of Utica was found nearby, now displayed in the Roman museum of Lausanne.