Château de Wineck
Encyclopedia
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...
in the Wineckerthal quarter of 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 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. It has been listed since 1985 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...
by the French Ministry of Culture.
History
The castle was built around 1300 for the WindsteinWindstein
Windstein is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
family. It was without doubt intended as an observation post to complete the defensive system of the nearby Château de Schœneck
Château de Schœneck
The Château de Schœneck is a castle situated in the commune of Dambach, in the French département of Bas-Rhin.- History:The castle, probably built at the end of the 13th century, is on a rocky crest at an altitude of 380 m. It was certainly built at the instigation of the Hohenstaufens for hunting...
.
It was dismantled at the end of the 17th century on the orders of the King of France.
Built on a rocky peak, all that remains of the castle are part of the dressed stone walls and the corners of the polygonal keep
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
, serving originally to protect a modest home that has since disappeared.
The castle is reached through a gallery cut into the rock, with a door half way up the cliff. The lower courtyard, on the eastern side, is enclosed by a partly conserved enceinte
Enceinte
Enceinte , is a French term used technically in fortification for the inner ring of fortifications surrounding a town or a concentric castle....
.