Château du Birkenfels, Ottrott, France

The Château du Birkenfels is a ruined castle in the commune of Ottrott. Originally it was built by Burkhard Berger, a vassal of the bishop of Strasbourg, in the 13th century. The castle's position allowed surveillance of the old Roman road running from Mont Sainte-Odile to Champ du Feu and the valley of the Bruche.

The construction is dated to around 1260. The earliest recorded mention is from 1289. The entrance tower to the house and the lower courtyard are from the late 15th or early 16th century.

The castle belonged the Berger family until 1532, then to the Mundolsheim family until the French Revolution. The castle fell into ruins after the Thirty Years' War and was taken over by the town of Obernai, becoming part of the continuous forest between Obernai and Bernardswiller.

The castle is today in a poor state. Remains include the ditch, wall, keep and lower courtyard.

References:

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User Reviews

Michèle Muller (8 months ago)
Very nice, fairly easy hike, the two castles are quite close, a little less than 2.5km from each other

Joshua Harvey (10 months ago)
Easy to get to once you find the trail head. Gorgeous castle and fun to roam around. ?Please follow for more vids and pics ? ? @dqadventure ? @dragonquestadventure ? @dragonquestadventure

Maxime (11 months ago)
Very beautiful ruin of the castle of Birkenfels, access via a few tens of minutes of walk, this one is in the middle of the forest, calm and relaxing place, small shelters with picnic table available on site.

Toby Martin (3 years ago)
Out of all the ruined castles in the area this one is probably my favourite, made special by the built in toilet hidden in the castle wall. It still works, too.

Simona A (4 years ago)
Beautiful castle. Great walk through the forest

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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 du Birkenfels

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