The Château du Bernstein is a ruined castle in the commune of Dambach-la-Ville, in the Bas-Rhin département of France. It is situated at an altitude of 557m (~1810 ft).
Originally, the castle belonged to the Counts of Eguisheim Dabo. After the siege of 1227, it became the property of the bishop of Strasbourg and seat of the episcopal bailiffs until 1580. Abandoned from this date, the buildings fell into ruin.
History
The castle at Bernstein is among the oldest in Alsace. It was first mentioned at the beginning of the 11th century, though the northern surrounding wall can be dated to prehistoric times. The upper castle with keep, manor house and advanced works probably dates from the end of the 12th century and start of the 13th. In the Gothic era, the manor house was separated from the keep by a ditch, transformed later into a cistern. Towards the end of the 15th century, the St. Marguerite tower, so called from the name of the chapel there, was built in the rear courtyard. Around 1835, Félix Dartein cleared the ground of the lower castle to build a house and some outbuildings which have disappeared.
The remains visible today date from several eras:
13th century: keep, lodging, chapel-tower, outbuildings
15th century: lower curtain wall, entrance gate, underground well
The Château du Bernstein is state property and has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1931.

Château du Bernstein

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Château de Thanvillé is a historical monument located Thanvillé, in the French department of Bas-Rhin. This building is located in Schlosshof / 7 rue du Château in Thanvillé. The building is the subject of a registration as a historic monument since 1988. The building is the subject of a classification as historical monuments since 1989.
http://www.frenchchateau.net/chateaux-of-alsace/chateau-de-thanville.html

Château de Thanvillé

The Château d'Andlau is a medieval ruined castle in the commune of Andlau, in the Bas-Rhin département of France. It is a recognized historical monument since 1926.
Constructed on a narrow granite outcrop at an altitude of 451 m (~1466 ft), the Haut-Andlau dominates the valleys of Andlau and Kirneck. The castle was built from granite blocks, very certainly by Eberhard d'Andlau between 1246 and 1264. In 1678, after the joining of Alsace to France, it was pillaged by the troops of maréchal de Créquy. The castle stayed in the hands of the counts of Andlau until the French Revolution and served afterwards as a residence for a gamekeeper in the service of the family.
Confiscated as a national asset, it was sold in 1796 to a merchant who, from 1806 and with general indifference, began to sell the castle piece by piece. In 1818, Antoine-Henri d'Andlau bought the ruin and saved it from destruction. Repair work was carried out in 1856. The castle was classified as a monument historique (historic monument) in 1926 and was reinforced in 1927-1928 with a restoration campaign launched on the initiative of the Vosges Club (Club Vosgien). It still belongs to the Andlau family.
The building
The castle is on two levels. The higher part is built on a narrow ridge approximately 25 m wide and 80 m long (~81 by 260 ft), orientated south-south-west to north-north-east. It consists of a long residential building flanked at each end by circular towers about 10 m (~33 ft) in diameter. The castle was built in one piece; only the lower court has been altered (in the 16th century). Like the neighbouring Château du Spesbourg, the building material was granite excavated on site. To the east, a steep mountainside provides a natural defence while on the other sides, a wide, deep moat cut into the rock isolates and protects the site.

Château d'Andlau

The Château de Spesbourg is a ruined castle that dominates the valley above the village of Andlau, in the Bas-Rhin department of France.
The castle was constructed between 1246 and 1250 by Alexander of Stahleck-Dicka, Vogt to Andlau Abbey. In 1386 it became the property of the family von Andlau. In the 16th century angry locals set fire to the castle after one of the lords seduced a village girl.
The castle fell into ruin after the Thirty Years' War.
In 1967 it was registered with the national Inventory of Historic Buildings by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Spesbourg

The Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg is a medieval castle located in the commune of Orschwiller in the Bas-Rhin département of Alsace, France, Located in the Vosges mountains just west of Sélestat, situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
History
The Buntsandstein rock was first mentioned as Stophanberch (Staufenberg) in a 774 deed issued by the Frankish king Charlemagne. Again certified in 854, it was then a possession of the French Basilica of St Denis and the site of a monastery.
Middle Ages
It is not known when a first castle was built. However, a Burg Staufen (Castrum Estufin) is documented in 1147, when the monks complained to King Louis VII of France about its unlawful construction by the Hohenstaufen Duke Frederick II of Swabia. Frederick's younger brother Conrad III had been elected King of the Romans in 1138, to be succeeded by Frederick's son Frederick Barbarossa in 1152, and by 1192 the castle was called Kinzburg (Königsburg, "King's Castle").
In the early thirteenth century, the fortification passed from the Hohenstaufen family to the dukes of Lorraine, who entrusted it to the local Rathsamhausen knightly family and the Lords of Hohenstein, who held the castle until the fifteenth century. As the Hohensteins allowed some robber barons to use the castle as a hideout, and their behaviour began to exasperate the neighbouring rulers, in 1454 it was occupied by Elector Palatine Frederick I and in 1462 was set ablaze by the unified forces of the cities of Colmar, Strasbourg, and Basel.
In 1479, the Habsburg emperor Frederick III granted the castle ruins in fief to the Counts of Thierstein, who rebuilt them with a defensive system suited to the new artillery of the time. When in 1517 the last Thierstein died, the castle became a reverted fief and again came into the possession of the Habsburg emperor of the day, Maximilian I. In 1633, during the Thirty Years' War in which Catholics forces fought Protestants, the Imperial castle was besieged by Protestant Swedish forces. After a 52-day siege, the castle was burned and looted by the Swedish troops. For several hundred years it was left unused, and the ruins became overgrown by the forest. Various romantic poets and artists were inspired by the castle during this time.
19th century renovation
The ruins had been listed as a monument historique of the Second French Empire since 1862 and were purchased by the township of Sélestat (or Schlettstadt) three years later. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871 the region was incorporated into the German Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, and in 1899 the citizens granted what was left of the castle to the German emperor Wilhelm II. Wilhelm wished to create a castle lauding the qualities of Alsace in the Middle Ages and more generally of German civilization stretching from Hohkönigsburg in the west to (likewise restored) Marienburg Castle in the east. He also hoped the restoration would reinforce the bond of Alsatians with Germany, as they had only recently been incorporated into the newly established German Empire. The management of the restoration of the fortifications was entrusted to the architect Bodo Ebhardt, a proven expert on the reconstruction of medieval castles. Work proceeded from 1900 to 1908. On May 13, 1908, the restored Hohkönigsburg was inaugurated in the presence of the Emperor. In an elaborate re-enactment ceremony, a historic cortege entered the castle, under a torrential downpour.
Ebhart's aim was to rebuild it, as near as possible, as it was on the eve of the Thirty Years' War. He relied heavily on historical accounts but, occasionally lacking information, he had to improvise some parts of the stronghold. For example, the Keep tower is now reckoned to be about 14 metres too tall. Wilhelm II, who regularly visited the construction site via a specially built train station in nearby Saint-Hippolyte, also encouraged certain modifications that emphasised a Romantic nostalgia for Germanic civilization. For example, the main dining hall has a higher roof than it did at the time, and links between the Hohenzollern family and the Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire are emphasized. The Emperor wanted to legitimise the House of Hohenzollern at the head of the Second Empire, and to assure himself as worthy heir of the Hohenstaufens and the Habsburgs.
The castle today
After World War I, the French state confiscated the castle in accordance with the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.
It has been listed since 1862 and classified since 1993 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2007, ownership was transferred to the Bas-Rhin département. Today, it is one of the most famous tourist attractions in the region.
For many years it was considered fashionable in France to sneer at the castle because of its links to the German emperor. Many considered it to be nothing more than a fairy tale castle similar to Neuschwanstein. However, in recent years many historians have established that, although it is not a completely accurate reconstruction, it is at least interesting for what it shows about Wilhelm II's romantic nationalist ideas of the past and the architect's work. Indeed, Bodo Ebhardt restored the castle following a close study of the remaining walls, archives and other fortified castles built at the same period.
Parts of the 1937 film La Grande Illusion by Jean Renoir were shot at Haut-Kœnigsbourg.

Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

1163
Construction d'un château féodal, dit motte ou Wasserbourg.
Comprend des fossés renforcés de tours et un pont levis
Il prend le nom de Schollenhof, du nom de son propriétaire, Otton de Stotzheim dit "Scholle"
1339
Les comtes de Rechberg sont propriétaires du domaine.
Le 2eme château est reconstruit sur l'emplacement du château précédent.
Il prend le nom de Steinerstock
1574
Construction du château actuel
Il s'agit d'une place forte, entièrement close de bâtiments.
L’accès se fait par 2 ponts au nord et au sud.
Les douves et les ponts sont encore en usage aujourd'hui
Le château prend le nom de Grunstein
1688
L’Alsace, après la guerre de 30 ans, devient Française.
Le château est acheté par le représentant du roi de France en Alsace, le Sieur Claudius Le Laboureur, Président du Conseil Souverain d'Alsace.
Maréchal de Schwengsfeld
1741
La dernière héritière des Le Laboureur vend le château au Maréchal Jean Frédéric de Schwengsfeld, commandant du régiment royal d'Alsace.
Il meurt en 1783, laissant ses 4 fils en indivision.
Révolution Française
1789
Les fils de Schwengsfeld ont rejoint les armées contre-révolutionnaires de Condée et du Duc d'Enghein.
Le château est réquisitionné par l'état.
Il sera occupé par Euloge Schneider, fervent révolutionnaire, maire d'Obernai et Commissaire de la république.
Moine défroqué de sinistre réputation, il est a l'origine de centaines de décapitation avant d'être décapité à son tour le 1er avril 1794
Rachat du château par le baron de Mullenheim.
1830
La famille de Mullenheim est une très ancienne famille d'Alsace.
A son retour après la révolution, elle rachète le château et engage d'important travaux de rénovation entre 1830 et 1880.
Il prend son allure actuelle :
démolition de tous les bâtiments entourant la cour ( ferme et casernement ) et reconstruction de le ferme derrière le château ,
Modification de la facade sud, création de la porte d'entrée en pleine façade ( blason et dates )
Le château est un casino
1918
Pendant la 1ere guerre mondiale, en face de l’entrée sud du château se trouve un terrain d’aviation Allemand.
Un casino est installé au château pour les officiers.
Destruction de la chapelle
1945
Lors des combats dit de la "poche de Colmar", le parc du château est occupé par le 2eme Division Blindée du général Leclerc.
Un char passera le pont sud d'entrée du château et heurtera violemment la chapelle qui se trouve derrière le pont.
La chapelle sera fortement endommagée et ne sera pas reconstruite.
Les gisants qui se trouvent sur les murs de la porterie se trouvaient précédemment sur les murs de la chapelle.
Acquisition du château.
2009
Lors d'une promenade en vélo, je découvre par hasard le château et un voisin m'en fait la présentation.
Il n'est plus occupé.
c'est le coup de foudre. Quelques mois plus tard nous l'achetons.
Après son acquisition, démarre un rénovation complète qui durera 6 ans.
http://www.grunstein.fr

Château de Grünstein

Today, Reichenberg Castle belongs to the Oppenweiler community. It was built at the beginning of the thirteenth century by the margrave Hermann V from Baden. For more than 700 years, the Romanic castle complex has remained completely intact. Many parts of this unique castle are open to the public, for instance, the keep, the chapel and the outdoor areas of the castle walls.
For the last 120 years, Reichenberg Castle has also housed diaconal facilities; and, today, the Paulinenpflege Winnenden organization looks after people with disabilities and mental disorders there. In their tours, Gisela Weigle, Ute Klaperoth-Spohr, Christina Rieger and Wolfgang Schneider relate the castle’s history and have many stories to tell about it.
https://www.schwaebischerwald.com/index.php?id=803

Château de Reichenberg

The Château de Saint-Ulrich (also known as the Château de Grand-Ribeaupierre) is one of three castles (with the Girsberg and the Haut-Ribeaupierre) which overlooks the commune of Ribeauvillé in the Haut-Rhin département of France. It is situated at an altitude of 528 m.
The present name of the site is from the chapel dedicated to Saint Ulrich of Augsburg which is found in the castle. Medieval texts never gave the present name - the castle had the name of the Rappolstein dynasty (or Ribeaupierre in the French style).
History
From the 11th to the 16th centuries, the castle was the principal residence of the powerful lords of Ribeaupierre. There must have been another castle on the same site which belonged in 1114 to the Bishop of Basle. It was occupied militarily by Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, who used it as a strongpoint in his war against the Eguisheims. It was then returned to the Bishop of Basle who restored it to the Ribeaupierres. Anselme II de Ribeaupierre, who chased the other members of the family from the castle, successfully survived two sieges, in 1287 by Rudolph I of Germany and, in 1293, his successor Adolf. A celebrated crimal, Dame Cunégonde d'Hungersheim, was incarcerated in the keep and tried to escape with the aid of a guard.
The castle is a very fine example of the military architecture of Alsace in the Middle Ages, including a keep erected in the 12th century and a residence with chimney of the 12th century. In the 13th century, the salle des chevaliers (knights' hall) was decorated with nine beautiful windows in the Romanesque style which can still be seen. In the same period (1435), the chapel dedicated to Saint Ulrich, Bishop of Augsburg, was built.
The Ribeaupierre family left this castle in the 16th century for a Renaissance-style mansion (the present school in Ribeauvillé). The castle was dismantled during the Thirty Years' War.
The castle today
The visible remains date from several epochs:
12th century : Square keep and the corps de logis
13th century : Salle des chevaliers, and the residential tower
14th century : Barbican and outer enceinte
15th century: Chapel (Saint-Ulrich)
The Château de Saint-Ulrich has been listed since 1841 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Saint-Ulrich

La première mention historique du lieu se situe en 1185, lorsque Sigebert III prend le titre de comte de Werde. On ignore si le château remonte à cette date ou si un château primitif est alors restauré comme l’avance le frère Sitzmann.
Le château de Werde était un des plus importants de la contrée. Les vestiges et les fondations que l’on trouve encore çà et là, permettent d’établir qu’il était semblable aux châteaux de ce temps. Un pont-levis, des doubles fossés larges de 20 mètres, encaissés entre deux remparts séparait l’enceinte dans laquelle se trouvait la forteresse. Au lieu de se trouver au centre, comme habituellement, le donjon de Werde s’élançait à l’extrémité Sud-Est de la cour seigneuriale, pour lui permettre de dominer le pays et la rivière.
Les descendants de Sigebert ont obtenu en 1192 le titre de Landgrave de la basse Alsace et ont pris le nom de comte de Werde. Les Landgraves de Werde se succédèrent paisiblement pendant deux siècles où un seul évènement est à signaler : à la mort de Rodolphe de Habsbourg, Jean de Werde avait pris parti pour la succession de son fils mais Adolphe de Nassau ayant été élu empereur à la suite de Rodolphe vint assiéger Werde et pris d’assaut le Château le 27 octobre 1293.
Le comte Ulric de Werde succéda à son frère mais se ruinera au service de Louis de Bavière. Ulric fut amené à vendre une partie de ces biens et à céder l’autre partie à son gendre Frédéric d’Oettingen, mari de sa fille Adélaïde ; il lui céda également la dignité de Landvogt.
Frédéric mourut en 1357, son fils Louis-le-jeune lui succéda, mais ne se plaisant pas en Alsace, il vendit le 25 janvier 1359, le titre de Landgrave, le château de Werde, les domaines, les alleux, les fiefs, droits et privilèges, tous ses biens et titres à Jean de Lichtenberg, évèque de Strasbourg, qui les transmit à ses successeurs à l’évèché.
Ainsi s’éteint la branche des Landgraves de Werde dont les armoiries ornent encore la moitié du drapeau alsacien et dont les gisants de deux d’entre eux reposent encore à Saint Guillaume à Strasbourg. Aucun des évèques de Strasbourg ne prit jamais le titre de Landgraves peu soucieux, sans doute, d’en assumer les lourdes charges.
Les évèques de Strasbourg vont donner en fiefs le château à différentes et illustres familles alsaciennes, successivenment : Jean d’Ochsenstein, Hugues de Géroldseck-des-vosges, aux D’Andlau et aux Zorn de Bulach. Ceux-ci, ayant passé au protestantisme, furent évincés par l’évèque Erasme de Limbourg moyennant une indemnité consécutive aux importants travaux que les Zorn avaient menés à Werde. Georges Zorn se retira alors à Osthausen et construisit le château actuel. A sa mort en 1567, ce fut la branche aînée, dite de Dorlisheim, restée catholique qui prit possession du château, qu’elle occupe encore.
Après les Zorn de Bulach, l’évèque investit les barons de Seebach qui transformèrent alors le château fort en château d’habitation et rénovèrent le moulin. En se basant sur des considérations archéologiques, on peut admettre que la petite aile du château (aile nord) date de cette époque.
A  la mort du dernier descendant de la famille des barons de Seebach, l’évèque investit du titre de comte de Werde et d’Uttenheim les nobles de Reinach-Foussemagne en 1656. Une des branches de cette famille prend le nom de Reinach-Werde. Le dernier propriétaire noble de Werde était Guillaume-Jacques-Maximilien-Antoine Reinach Werde.
A  l’approche de la tempête révolutionnaire, celui-ci était en conflit avec la communauté d’Uttenheim pour des futilités. Après la prise de la bastille, les paysans d’Uttenheim allèrent en armes au château de Werde. Guillaume de Reinach s’y trouvait pour une partie de chasse, on était au dîner lorsque cette foule exaltée, criant et vociférant, conduite par le forgeron muni de son lourd marteau, vint sommer le seigneur de lui livrer immédiatement ses titres de propriétés. Celui-ci leur déclara simplement qu’ils se trouvaient à Benfeld, chez son homme d’affaire. Les forcenés s’y rendirent , tandis que le baron passait le Rhin et emigra à Rastatt ou il mourut en janvier 1792. Furieux, les gens d’Uttenheim saccagèrent et brûlèrent le second château de Guillaume qu’il possédait dans leur localité.
Après la révolution le château de Werde fut décrété comme bien national et vendu. Les autres dépendances et le moulin furent vendu en 1804 par la veuve et les descendants de Guillaume revenus habiter à Niedernai. Différents propriétaires se sont succédés au cours du XIX siècle jusqu’à l’abbé Mertian supérieur des frères de la doctrine Chrétienne qui rachète le château le 1er septembre 1865 et y entreprend d’importants travaux.
L’aspect actuel du château, uniformisé et bien plus modeste qu’à ces origines remonte partiellement à cette époque avec des éléments renaissance dans le corps de logis nord et une structure 18e dans celui du Sud.
Illustration : Le château de Werde primitif imaginé par le frère Sitzmann
http://www.chateaudewerde.com

Château de Werde

The Château de Kaysersberg is a ruined castle in the commune of Kaysersberg in the Haut-Rhin département of France.
History
The castle was built for Albin Woelflin, imperial bailiff for Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, around 1220. The site was acquired in 1227 by the lords of Horbourg and Ribeaupierre. It had an important strategic role as it allowed the Empire to close off one of the routes across the Vosges Mountains towards Lorraine. The circular keep is the oldest part of the castle and one of the first of this type in the upper Rhine valley. It was designed at the same time as the keep at the Château de Pflixbourg. The first curtain wall, which included the keep, was replaced after 1261 by a wall enclosing the keep, according to a contemporary plan, which allowed an uniterrupted circuit of the walls and strengthened defences on the side likely to be attcaked. In the 14th century, the castle was the residenece of the imperial provost or bailiff. Following a fire, the enceinte was raised to 4 m. In the second half of the 15th century, the castle defences were modernised in response to developments in artillery and firearms; the crenels were closed with wooden shutters, the merlons were equipped with firing slits and the round walk was completely covered. In this period, the castle was merely a sub-bailliage and personnel were heavily reduced. During the German Peasants' War (1524/5), the castle was besieged. It was restored by Lazarre de Schwendi in 1583.
According to archaeological excavations and studies, the castle was abandoned at the end of the 16th century. After the French Revolution, it was declared a national asset and sold to François Joseph Boecklin de Boecklinsau, who planted vines, and later passed to the Bastard family.
Description
The castle is largely built from granite. It stands at an altitude of 295 m (approx. 975 ft) and dominates from 50m the north side of the town. The castle has a triangular plan dominated by the circular keep in the highest point. The keep is 11 m (36 ft) in diameter with walls 4.42 m (14 1⁄2 ft) thick. The original parapet has been kept to a height of 0.55 m, with the crenels and merlons restored. The spiral staircase is concrete. Access is to the first floor, through an arched doorway. The spacious third floor served as a storeroom and provided access to the platform which was originally covered. The keep had a purely military function. The main residential buildings were situated against the east curtain wall. On the other side, towards the town, was a large lower courtyard. The entrance to the castle, in the east, was by an arched doorway with a barbican; to the left is a cruciform cannon opening and a circular firing hole. The castle's enceinte is linked to the town's by curtain walls with a round walk.
The Château de Kaysersberg has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1841.

Château de Kaysersberg

The Château des Rohan ("Castle of the Rohan") is a former castle and weapons factory now serving as a museum and cultural centre in the French town of Mutzig, Bas-Rhin, Alsace. The castle, whose structure goes back to the 13th century, belonged to several families of noblemen and bishops of Strasbourg before being turned into a rifle factory after the French Revolution. The castle is most famously associated with the House of Rohan and the Chassepot rifle.
History
Mutzig's castle's history goes back to the fortification of the town in 1274 by Rudolph of Habsburg. The medieval castle, a Wasserburg (i.e. surrounded by a moat derived from a canal) was heavily destroyed by the Swedes in 1632, during the Thirty Years' War, after having already been assaulted by Ernst von Mansfeld's troops in 1622. The city's and castle's masters, during these times marked by frequent battles and rivalries between feudal families, were alternatively and sometimes simultaneously the bishops of Strasbourg and the House of Zweibrücken.
The castle as it now appears is a Baroque structure. It was inaugurated in its present shape in 1673 to serve as the residence of the bishop of Strasbourg, Franz Egon of Fürstenberg. Fürstenberg was succeeded by his brother Wilhelm Egon. After the family of Rohan took over the bishopric of Strasbourg, the castle served as a residence to the dukes Armand Gaston, François-Armand, Louis Constantin and Louis René Édouard de Rohan, between 1704 and 1790. However, after the completion of the Palais Rohan of Strasbourg in 1742, the château, which had already been rivalled by the residences in Saverne, became only of secondary importance to the family. Mutzig's castle was disowned and pillaged during the French Revolution. In 1799, it was bought by the arms manufacturers, brothers Coulaux of Klingenthal, Bas-Rhin, who, on 20. April 1801, opened their weapons factory in its walls. The factory ran until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. It is there, in the Manufacture d'Armes de Mutzig (also known as Manufacture impériale de Mutzig) that the native of Mutzig, Antoine Alphonse Chassepot fabricated some of his famous rifles, one of the most advanced firearms of its time. The castle was fortified again by the Germans in 1893. Today, the castle houses a cinema and a library as well as, since 1996, the municipal museum Musée régional d'armes (previously, since 1977, the Musée des Rohan) displaying a vast collection of historic rifles.
The castle is listed as a Monument historique since 1976 by the French Ministry of Culture.