Castle of Hugstein
The ruins of the castle of Hugstein are located at horse on the communal limits of Buhl and Guebwiller in the Département of Haut-Rhin (Alsace).
History
The castle of Hugstein was built in 1227 per Hugo (Hugues) of Rothenbourg, prince abbot of Murbach of 1216 to 1236. It was built between the communes of Buhl and Guebwiller, to defend at the same time the abbey of Murbach and the entry of the valley of the Florival.
In 1313 the abbot Conrad Wiedergrun de Stauffenberg devotes the vault of the castle to the Holy Cross and Saint Benoit. The abbot Barthélémy d' Andlau modernizes Hugstein during XVe century while associating to him in particular turn-carries decorated with a plank and equipped with a Pont-levis (visible on the photograph).
Two news towers is also added to the defensive system of the castle although are main role is residential. Georges de Masevaux continuously the restoration but dies in 1542. The castle then becomes the stake of a quarrel of succession between Henri de Jestetten and its cousin Rodolphe Stoer de Stoerenbourg, abbot of Honcourt and capitulary of Murbach. This last obtained finally win but the manor house suffered from it. In 1598, the castle is struck by the lightning. It will be used at the beginning of the XVIIe century as prison, particularly for the Luthérien S or for the Sorcière S which one says that some were burned in front of the castle. Given up thereafter, it is still used as refuge to the poor people before being finally used like stone quarry. The stone whose the castle is built was extracted from the ditch which surrounds it. The cylindrical keep 10 meters in diameter is relatively rare in Alsace. The high part of the keep disappeared since the time when the site was used as career. The principal home was to comprise two to see three stages what conferred on the building an unquestionable splendor. The keystone of the vault joint (or perhaps integrated into the residence) is visible with the Musée of Florival in Guebwiller. The defensive unit consists of a rampart rounded with the angles, in fact a lure to give the impression to the attacker whom the castle was equipped with cylindrical turns.
| Random links: | Toolbox Macintosh | Mario Matt | Charles Dwight Marsh | SS-3 | Sufflamen Bursa |