Château de Hohenfels
Encyclopedia
The Château de Hohenfels is a castle
situated in the commune
of Dambach
, in the Bas-Rhin
département of France
.
The castle was built at the end of the 13th century and recorded in a document for the first time in 1293. It was destroyed by troops from Strasbourg
and Haguenau
in 1423, and again during the German Peasants' War
in 1525.
The semi-troglodytic castle is built on a sandstone
table, separated from the crest of the hill by a ditch dug into the bare rock. The castle was built with six floors and allowed surveillance of the access roads towards Lorraine. It was certainly altered in the 15th century.
Hohenfels was the first castle in Alsace
to be undergo properly scientific archaeological digs.
The castle has been classified since 1985 by the French Ministry of Culture as a monument historique
.
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
situated in the commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
of Dambach
Dambach
Dambach may refer to:* Dambach, Bas-Rhin, France* Dambach-la-Ville, Bas-Rhin, France* Dambach, Germany, a municipality in Landkreis Birkenfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate* and many others settlements and several streams in Germany...
, in the Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin is a department of France. The name means "Lower Rhine". It is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the Alsace region, with 1,079,013 inhabitants in 2006.- History :...
département of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
History
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
and Haguenau
Haguenau
-Economy:The town has a well balanced economy. Centuries of troubled history in the buffer lands between France and Germany have bequeathed to Haguenau a rich historical and cultural heritage which supports a lively tourist trade. There is also a thriving light manufacturing sector centred on the...
in 1423, and again during the German Peasants' War
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe, 1524–1526. At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict involved an estimated 300,000 peasants: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000...
in 1525.
The semi-troglodytic castle is built on a sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
table, separated from the crest of the hill by a ditch dug into the bare rock. The castle was built with six floors and allowed surveillance of the access roads towards Lorraine. It was certainly altered in the 15th century.
Visible remains
- Remains of the old wall closing the lower courtyard.
- The surrounding wall of large dressed stones.
- The cistern cut into the sandstone and its water collection system.
- Of the lower courtyard, only fragments of walls and a cistern remain.
- The western platform has kept some remains as well as a room cut out of the rock.
- The manor house, at the eastern end of the summit, has kept its north wall of dressed stones up to three levels.
Hohenfels was the first castle in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
to be undergo properly scientific archaeological digs.
The castle has been classified since 1985 by the French Ministry of Culture as a monument historique
Monument historique
A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...
.