Château de Hohenbourg

Like the Fleckenstein, the Hohenbourg's mission was to mark the border with Lorraine and to ensure the safety of the imperial road from Kaiserslautern to Haguenau. The first castle was probably built at the end of the 12th century by a branch of the Fleckenstein family, which took the name Hohenbourg, then Puller de Hohenbourg (first mention in 1263). In 1482, on the death of the last of the lineage, the castle passed to the Sickingen, a powerful Palatinate family. François de Sickingen then transformed the fortress and adapted it to artillery use by building the barbican in 1520. Embellishment work was again undertaken around 1572-1575, of which traces of the door frames enhanced with sculptures in the Renaissance style remain. The castle was then used as an occasional residence for the Sickingen family. The Hohenbourg was destroyed by the armies of Montclar in 1680 to carry out the orders of Louis XIV.

Access: from the Fleckenstein reception site, take the path marked with a red rectangle (GR 53) to the Schlossberg Pass. From there, follow the red-white-white-red rectangle marked path which will lead you to the Loewenstein ruin and then to the Hohenbourg ruin. The walk takes 35 minutes.

DATAtourisme France