Leuk Castle, Castle in Leuk, Valais, Switzerland

Leuk Castle, also called Bishop's Castle, stands in the municipality of Leuk in Valais, Switzerland. Its square main tower has sides about 9 meters long and is enclosed by an irregular ring wall. Two rectangular residential buildings complete the complex; the tower likely dates from the 12th century, the residential buildings from the early to mid-13th century.

In the early 13th century, the Bishop of Sion acquired the fief and transformed the small fort into a larger administrative center. The complex remained a seat of local authority for centuries afterward.

The castle's other name, Bishop's Castle, recalls the Bishops of Sion, who held Leuk as a fief and used the complex as an administrative centre. The fief passed through the Ayent and Blonay families before reaching the Raron family around 1350, a succession a visitor can trace in the castle's later history.

Leuk Castle stands in the municipality of Leuk in Canton Valais, about 60 metres west of the 12th-century Viztum Tower, which guarded the road from the Rhone valley over the Gemmi Pass. The castle itself sits above that road, so the approach from the valley follows the old pass route.

The castle stands about 60 meters west of the 12th-century Viztum Tower, which was built to guard the road from the Rhone valley over the Gemmi Pass. The main square tower has sides roughly 9 meters long and is enclosed by an irregular ring wall.