This object is not linked to any sign on the site.

In the spring of 1969, Henri Gremaud, curator of the Musée gruérien, had soundings taken on the façade of a house that was due to be demolished and that tradition attributes to the Counts of Gruyère, as a hunting lodge. According to 19th century printed sources, the facades contained fresco paintings depicting the famous duel between two former Charmeys Cent-Suisses who fought for the heart of a young girl from the village, a duel at the end of which they both succumbed (a cross still marks the scene of the drama on the path leading from the village to Les Arses).

Soundings yielded no results, nor did they reveal another presumed fresco, that of a horseman in antique costume, pursued by a flight of cranes, riding at full speed, dispatch in hand, to announce to the Senate of Fribourg the death of the last Count of Gruyère, Michel. Renovations and reconstructions took their toll on the two frescoes, and the building was demolished without any interior surveys having been carried out.

On the other hand, the magnificent 17th-century woodwork on the ground and first floors, with its coffered ceiling and oak and fir tile floor, and the main doorcase decorated with pilasters and a Renaissance-style entablature - indicating that the house dates back to the time of the counts - were recovered by the Musée gruérien... before disappearing in part in a warehouse fire. Three pine panels depicting religious scenes, such as those found in the town of Gruyères and in an old neighbouring house in Charmey, are on display at the Musée gruérien, along with a few paintings - a soldier to whom a woman hands a glass / a soldier threatening with his sword a gendarme whose sword is in its scabbard - recovered at the last minute, along with graffiti bearing 16th century dates: ‘Qui bien ayme est digne d'avoir amye / En dehors des ennuyeux, je serai toujours joyeux / O monde retourne toy...’.

All of which confirms the hypothesis that this was a count's hunting lodge, perhaps a garçonnière referring to the legend of the Count going up to Charmey to ‘look for amye’ via the ‘Crève-Cœur’ cart at La Monse before the eyes of the Countess posted at the Montsalvens keep.

In collaboration with the municipality of Val-de-Charmey