Château d'Andlau, Bas-Rhin, France

The Château d'Andlau is a medieval ruined castle. Constructed on a narrow granite outcrop which dominates the valleys of Andlau and Kirneck. The castle was built from granite blocks, 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 no apparent public opposition, 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. It still belongs to the Andlau family.

The castle is on two levels. The higher part is built on a narrow ridge approximately 25 m wide and 80 m long, 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 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.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Hugo Charles-Messance (2 years ago)
So peaceful, we are happy we went all the way up there!

Lukas Muller (3 years ago)
Beautiful medieval castle in the middle of the woods. If you drive up from Barr you can already see the two towers rising above the treetops. I think the people who complain about the building material and scaffolding are a bit silly: at least it shows that there are people (volunteers in this case) working here to preserve this monument and keep it accessible for you, for free nonetheless. It's very minimal anyway. Sadly the audiotour QR codes don't work anymore and apart from that there is little information on site about the history, that's a shame. However, the website is quite elaborate so that's nice.

Marcus Hvillum (3 years ago)
Well preserved, and still undergoing renovations. Nice to see. A bit hard to find the right track towards the Château, but well worth the walk.

Yihua Wu (5 years ago)
Amazing castle though mostly ruins and under construction to have it restored.

Kurt Morrill (6 years ago)
A ruined castle being rebuilt by volunteers. At the end of a nice 1.5 km (1 mi) mostly-flat hike (probably do-able with a stroller, but not wheelchair accessible).

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Andy Hay

Historic Site of the week

Argos Theater

The ancient Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.

The Hellenistic theater at Argos is cut into the hillside of the Larisa, with 90 steps up a steep incline, forming a narrow rectilinear cavea. Among the largest theaters in Greece, it held about 20,000 spectators and is divided by two landings into three horizontal sections. Staircases further divide the cavea into four cunei, corresponding to the tribes of Argos A high wall was erected to prevent unauthorized access into the theatron and may have helped the acoustics, but it is said the sound quality is still very good today.

Around 120 CE, both theaters were renovated in the Roman style.

Château d'Andlau

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historic Site of the week

Argos Theater