Château de l'Ortenbourg

Situated 443 meters above sea level at the end of a ridge, Ortenburg Castle, considered one of the finest ruins in the Rhine Valley, was built between 1260 and 1265 by Rudolf of Habsburg. A masterpiece of medieval military architecture, it is distinguished by its 32-metre pentagonal keep, encircled by a high granite wall, offering six firing levels and designed to better deflect enemy projectiles. Visible from afar, it dominates the landscape like a stone ship, with its proud keep at its prow, its vast entrance door surmounted by an archway and the elegant Gothic bays of the loggia opening onto an exceptional panorama.

At the time of its construction, the site was ravaged by Walter de Geroldseck, the ambitious bishop of Strasbourg, who was devastating the Val de Villé. Defeated a few months later, he was forced to sign a peace treaty and pay 700 marks in compensation, enabling Rudolph to complete the construction of the finest Alsatian fortified castle of his time. However, as early as 1265, the Ortenbourg, still under construction, suffered its first siege by Episcopal troops. A few years later, the neighboring Ramstein castle was built; the Ortenbourg, deprived of supplies, eventually fell. Rebuilt around 1300, it was ravaged again in 1632, when the Swedes looted and burned it during the Thirty Years' War.

Today, the recently-created association "Les sentinelles de l?Ortenbourg" is working to safeguard, promote and animate this emblematic monument, whose silhouette remains one of the most remarkable in the region.

DATAtourisme France