Château du Wasigenstein
Encyclopedia
The Château du Wasigenstein is a ruined castle
in the commune
of Niedersteinbach
in the Bas-Rhin
département of France.
in the 10th century.
The castle is state property and has been listed since 1898 as a monument historique
by the French Ministry of Culture.
Two castles were built here in the 13th century each dependent on the other.
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 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 Niedersteinbach
Niedersteinbach
Niedersteinbach is a commune in the Bas-Rhin département in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
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.
History
The site was first known as the centre of the German legend of WalthariusWaltharius
Waltharius, a Latin poem founded on German popular tradition, relates the exploits of the west Gothic hero Walter of Aquitaine.-History:Our knowledge of the author, Ekkehard, a monk of St. Gall, is due to a later Ekkehard, known as Ekkehard IV , who gives some account of him in the Casus Sancti Galli...
in the 10th century.
The castle is state property and has been listed since 1898 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.
Two castles were built here in the 13th century each dependent on the other.
Key points
- at Grand-Wasigenstein, the former cistern, the keepKeepA 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...
, well-built rooms, etc - at Petit-Wasigenstein, a habitable keep with a thick walls, an enormous windlass capable of lifting considerable loads
- access stairways cut into the rock: a monumental architectural work provided a steep ascent to the summits
- a rift fault, separating the two castles ("the fault of Walther")
- alveolar and cathedral-like erosion on the south face of the rocky outcrop
- a viewpoint over the Langenbach valley and towards Obersteinbach