Château de Wildenstein

The Château de Wildenstein is a ruined castle in the Alsace region of France, situated in the commune of Kruth in the Haut-Rhin département.
The castle's position on top of a glacial moraine dominating the road from the Oderen Pass towards Lorraine made it an excellent instrument for surveillance. The Château de Wildenstein is first mentioned in 1312 as the property of the count of Ferrette, Ulrich III. He promised his rival, the abbot of Murbach, that he would not build castles on the abbey's territory, on condition that Pierre de Bollwiller was given a free hand at Wildenstein. It was given as a fief to Pierre and stayed in his family's hands until 1536. At this date, it was practically in ruins and the abbot of Murbach bought it back and began to rebuild and restore the castle, to better suit it to warfare with firearms. A chapel was also built at this time, dedicated to the Holy Cross . During the Thirty Years' War, it was taken and retaken by the Swedes and the French. It was destroyed by the Swedes in 1644 and from the end of the 17th century it was used as a source of building materials for the neighbouring villages, including the church at Oderen.

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