Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Heidwiller, attested from 1330 but probably prior to the 12th century, originally belonged to the lords of Heidwiller, vassals of the Counts of Ferrette. In 1105, this noble family was mentioned for the first time. The site, a medieval Wasserburg, was severely damaged by the earthquake of 1356 that ravaged Basel and its surroundings. Reconstructed shortly afterwards, in 1367 he passed into the hands of the nobles of Morimont, and was acquired in 1486 by the family of Reinach, who kept him until the French Revolution.

During the Revolution, the castle was confiscated and transformed into a prison during the Terror. Sold as a national property in 1795, he lost his two towers and his dependencies. In the 19th century he changed ownership several times: bought in 1849 by Bernard Couchepin (the mayor of the village), then in 1862 by a family of Mulhousian industrialists, before being acquired in 1899 by the Kestner family, who added to it a wrought iron door still visible today. Ranked a historic monument in 1996, it preserves defensive elements such as a 15th to 16th century gunboat and 19th century neo-Gothic developments.

The current architecture combines a three-storey rectangular house body, framed by two round towers (north and south). The north tower, partially original, houses a medieval gunboat, while the south tower, rebuilt in 1862, features third-point troubadour windows. Inside, an 18th-century wooden staircase, gypsum fireplaces and woodwork testify to successive changes. The castle also served as a factory and school after the Revolution, before being restored to become a private residence.

The major transformations took place in four key periods: after the earthquake of 1356, in the Renaissance (firearm defence), in the eighteenth century (symmetric openings) and around 1865 (addition of neo-Gothic balustrades and a double staircase). The site, surrounded by a park containing archaeological remains, illustrates the evolution of a medieval fortress as a seigneurial residence, then as a preserved local heritage.

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