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Origin and history

Schlossberg Castle, located on a hilltop hilltop at 134 meters, overlooks Forbach in Moselle and the axes between Metz and Germany. Raised between the 11th and 13th centuries near the ancient road from Metz to Worms, it is mentioned for the first time in 1257 under Thédoric de Werde. At that time, it included a palace girded with a enclosure and a square dungeon, accessible by a door later became the "fourth door". Historians such as Max Besler and Henri Wilmin agreed on a construction in the late 12th or early 13th century.

In the 15th century, Arnold VI of Sierck, close to the Duke René of Anjou, strengthened the castle after the Battle of Bulgnéville (1431) to protect the northeastern steps of the Duchy of Lorraine. It extends the enclosure, adds a new door (the 3rd present) and builds a tower and stables. In the 16th century, the lords of Hohenfels Reipoltskirchen and Daun Falkenstein transformed it into a Renaissance palace, adding a corner tower and a bastion. However, in 1591 the troops of Christian I of Anhalt-Bernburg looted him during the conflicts around the succession of Henry IV.

Revealed in 1607 by the Counts of Linange Westerburg and d'Eberstein, the castle then has six towers, as later excavations reveal. But in 1634, during the Thirty Years' War, Louis XIII ordered his destruction by the Marshal of La Force, reducing the site to ruins. The hill, ceded to Pierre Ney during the Revolution under the name "Montagne de la Fraternité", sees its stones reused. In the 19th century, industrialist Gustave Adt bought the site and conducted excavations.

The current tower, built in 1891 by architect Paul Tornow, replaces a medieval round corner tower (the "red tower") overlooking the Saar. It is 28 metres high and symbolizes the city and incorporates remains of the castle. Damaged during World War II, it was restored in the 1950s. The surrounding park, built in 1919 with green spaces and a rose garden, becomes a popular place for walking, animated by the tourist office in summer.

The site also includes the Burghof, a restaurant farm built around 1900, and traces of the German era, such as the former Bismarckplatz. The latter, dedicated to the German Chancellor before 1918, housed a medallion of Bismarck replaced after the war by that of General Houchard, a child of Forbach. The Adts, a local industrial family, marked the site with architectural embellishments, including a wind turbine and a Swiss chalet now missing.

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