Châteaubriant, France
11th century
Talmont-Saint-Hilaire, France
10th century AD
Lassay-les-Châteaux, France
12th century
Mazé-Milon, France
1772
Haute-Goulaine, France
12th century
Fresnay-sur-Sarthe, France
10th century AD
Baugé en Anjou, France
1442
Herbignac, France
13th century
Durtal, France
15th century
Montaigu-Vendée, France
13th century
Ancenis, France
15th century
Saint-Georges-sur-Loire, France
16th century
Bessé-sur-Braye, France
1450-1490
Missillac, France
15th century
Pouzauges, France
12th century
Sablé-sur-Sarthe, France
1717-1750
Ombrée d'Anjou, France
12th century
Île d'Yeu, France
14th century
Challain-la-Potherie, France
1847-1854
Ballon-Saint-Mars, France
11th century
The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is 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.
The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.
The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.