During the 12th century, there appears to have been a tower and wooden fort at the site of the present Erpeldange castle. In the 13th century, Frederic and Gerard d'Erpeldange, the first lords of Erpeldange, built a fortified stone castle guarding the valley at the point where the River Sûre meets the Alzette. The property passed successively into to the hands of the Counts of Vianden, and the Brandenburg-Outscheid and von Moestroff-Kerpen families.
Through marriage, the Gondersdorf family inherited the castle and in 1630 transformed it into a luxurious residence for their daughter. In 1677, it was inherited by Charles François baron de Failly de Sancy and Marie Marguerite de Giraldin. By that time, it was no longer of any military value as a quiet park had replaced its defences. Abandoned by the Prel family in the 19th century, it was used as a rectory. During the Second World War, the castle was damaged as a result of its use first by the Germans and then by American troops.
The castle changed hands a number of times until it was acquired by the State in 1983. The commune's administrative offices have been housed there since 1987. The building still contains two fine Renaissance fireplaces.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.