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Origin and history

The Schwarzenberg Castle, situated between Griesbach-au-Val and Munster in the Upper Rhine, is a castle built in 1261 by the Hohengeroldseck family on disputed lands of Munster Abbey. His initial objective was to control the abbey, which was then disputed between the Hohengeroldseck and the bishop of Basel. Despite the abbey's protests, work continued quickly, but in 1262 after a royal arbitration and a military defeat, Walter de Geroldseck had to give up the castle to the bishopric of Basel.

Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the castle changed hands and functions several times. Confed to families such as the Münch of Landskron or the Beger of Geispolsheim, it was modernized between 1496 and 1500 to resist artillery, with the addition of thickened walls and artillery terraces. However, its strategic relevance declined after the Saint-Grégoire valley obtained imperial immediacy in 1287, reducing its role to that of a pledge or a hostage prison.

In the 17th century, the castle was partially destroyed by the French in 1673, then abandoned. In the 19th century, it became a romantic ruin integrated into an English park by the Hartmann family, before being fortified by the Germans during the First World War. Consolidation work took place in the 19th and 20th centuries, notably by volunteers in the 1980s. Since 2016, studies (topography, 3D modelling) aim to preserve and classify ruins.

Architecturally, the castle consists of a 13th century pentagonal core, flanked by round towers and a shield wall reinforced in the 15th century to resist cannons. An outdoor bassyard, now very degraded, completed the defensive device. The materials, extracts on site, and the poor quality of the masonry accelerated its ruin. Among the remarkable elements are a chapel dedicated to Saint Anne and murals that are now missing.

The site, which was invaded by vegetation until the 2010s, was the subject of renewed heritage interest. An application for classification of historic monuments was filed in 2020 by the mayor of Stosswihr, following health diagnoses and technical surveys. Its history reflects the political and military tensions that marked Alsace from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

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