Château de Ramstein, Scherwiller, France

The Château de Ramstein is built on the same crest as the Château de l'Ortenbourg. Standing at an altitude of 384 m, it is dominated by the Château de l'Ortenbourg from which it is separated by a few hundred metres.

It was built around 1293 as a rear base during the siege of Château de l'Ortenbourg by Otto von Ochenstein, during the conflict between Adolf of Nassau and Albert of Habsburg. Originally built as a simple tower to support a siege engine, it grew at the start of the 14th century into a true castle with the strengthening of the tower and an extra wall. In 1421, it was attacked and pillaged by Strasbourg. It was destroyed in 1633 by the Swedes during the Thirty Years' War. At the start of the 19th century it became the property of baron Mathieu de Fabvier, who also owned Ortenbourg. Today, all that remains are the exterior wall and two turrets, built of granite.

Because of the risk of landslides, the castle has been closed to visitors since 1983. The castle has been listed as monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1924. It is the property of the commune.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Юлиан Младенов (7 months ago)
Creepy ?.

christopher sprake (2 years ago)
Well worth the hike to the top, great view and well preserved ruin that is open to the public free of charge.

John Maletka (3 years ago)
The ruin of the Ramstein castle has changed over the years thanks to the work carried out by an association dedicated to protect and improve the site.....Well worth the visit inspite of the long climbing path. Not for young kids imo...Walking shoes and water....

William Cordell (5 years ago)
Awesome hike. Castle is in disrepair, but worth the trip up.

Erik Mulder (5 years ago)
This Chateau is a ruin and there is not much left of it. You can see the outside a bit but at the time of writing they are doing reconstruction works so there is not much else too see than a few walls from the distant. The views are great though. Tip: take the beautiful walkway through the forest and reward your climb with a view of Chateau Ramstein and a visit to Chateau l'Ortenbourg, which is just a few minutes walk further to the top.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Andrew Gustar

Historic Site of the week

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress was built as the backbone of the regional fortification system, Festung Koblenz, by Prussia between 1817 and 1832 and guarded the middle Rhine region, an area that had been invaded by French troops repeatedly before. The fortress was never attacked.

Early fortifications at the site can be dated back to about 1000 BC. At about AD 1000 Ehrenbert erected a castle. The Archbishops of Trier expanded it with a supporting castle Burg Helferstein and guarded the Holy Tunic in it from 1657 to 1794. Successive Archbishops used the castle's strategic importance to barter between contending powers; thus in 1672 at the outset of war between France and Germany the Archbishop refused requests both from the envoys of Louis XIV and from Brandenburg's Ambassador, Christoph Caspar von Blumenthal, to permit the passage of troops across the Rhine.

Château de Ramstein

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historical Gems of Costa Verde

Historic Site of the week

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress