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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The ruins of the castles of Weckmund and Wahlenbourg, located in Husseren-les-Châteaux (Haut-Rhin), form a fortified 13th century complex, classified as a Historic Monument since 1840. Originally, the castle of Haut-Eguisheim, from which they came, had only one enclosure and one dungeon. Occupied by the family of the Counts of Eguisheim-Dabo, it was enlarged with two additional dungeons: the Wahlenbourg (mid-12th century) and the Weckmund (XIIIth century), the latter linked to the alliance with the Vaudémont (Germanized name in Weckmund).

The central castle, the Wahlenbourg, is the oldest, with a dungeon in pink sandstone with bosses and a house from the 13th to 14th centuries. The Weckmund, in the south, includes a similar dungeon and walls pierced with windows. In 1466, the Mulhusian militia destroyed the fortress, leaving only the chapel Saint-Pancrace (now disappeared). The ruins, a communal property, have been the subject of repeated restorations, especially since 1973, with architectural elements such as broken arched doors or full-scale doors.

The archival documents relating to these castles are kept with those of Dagsburg (Eguisheim), another dungeon of the original ensemble. Their early classification (1840) underscores their heritage importance. Typical materials (pink sandstone, bossstones) and traces of lifting holes illustrate medieval construction techniques in Alsace. Today, the ruins offer a fragmentary but precious testimony of the castral organization and the seigneurial alliances of the region.

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