July 27, 2015

It is now official, the castle Ray-sur-Saône, its furniture and its park are now owned by the department of Haute-Saône. That implies that all future visits of the castle will be under the control of the department. For more details see Le château de Ray-sur-Saône offert au conseil départemental.

Countess Diane-Régina de Salverte is the last owner of the castle. Although not stated in the newspaper article (see link above), the Countess will possibly still live in a part of the castle.

One of the long time ago owner, in the 13th century, of a castle on the same location was Othon de la Roche who participated in the Fourth Crusade. Many authors stated that Othon was probably the owner of the Shroud of Turin while he was Duke of Athens. This possibility is actually very unlikely because it is based on a manuscript of the 18th century, kept in the Municipal Archives of Besançon, that has no solid foundation.