Haut-Kœnigsbourg Castle

     Europe is where you find castles.  In the 9th and 10th centuries, European lands were divided up and given to many lords and princes.  Up to the 16th century, the nobility built castles as a base of control in their areas.  We visited Haut-Kœnigsbourg, a restored castle, and we saw many smaller castles, now in ruins, on our way.

Castles were built in strategic locations.  Haut-Kœnigsbourg sits high in the Vosges Mountains overlooking the Alsatian plain.  The first castle on this spot was built in the early 1100s.  It was destroyed in 1462.  The castle was rebuilt in 1479 and stood until 1633 when it was destroyed in the Thirty Years War.  After the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), German Emperor Wilhelm II rebuilt Haut-Kœnigsbourg.  Having recently annexed the Alsace-Lorraine territory into the German Empire, Wilhelm II hoped that restoring the castle would strengthen the bond between Alsatians and Germany.  Wilhelm II hired Bodo Ebhardt, an expert on the reconstruction of  medieval castles, to supervise the reconstruction.  Ebhardt's finished product is fairly close to the original, but some have criticized the style as inauthentic and too much of an homage to German nationalism at the time.   

Looking Down at the Alsatian Plain.

This model shows the castle's original configuration.

The dining room might not be true to the original ...

... especially the mural on the ceiling depicting an eagle, a symbol of the German Empire.

The Chapel

This room contains bedroom furniture, but it was not originally used as a bedroom.  The "rule" of castle architecture was that a sitting room had windows to let in the light during the day when people occupied the room.  There was also a fireplace for heating.  Bedrooms did not have windows because they were occupied after dark.  They had only a fireplace for light and heat.   

Ceramic stoves provided a steady source of heat for hours after the fire went out.  This stove is from the 15th century.

This well is outside, but there is another well inside in the heart of the castle.

The windmill provided power.

This is how waste from the toilets was handled.  Toilets were located on outside walls.  Gravity took care of the rest.

We saw markings on stones throughout the castle.  There are three types of markings.  This simple marking, from the original stone ruins of the castle, tells us who carved the stone.  On payday, the guy whose mark looked like an arch got paid for every stone he inscribed. 

This stone was carved during Wilhelm II's restoration.  There were eight marks during the eight year restoration which designated the year the stone was carved (1901-1908).  

This is the third type of stone marking.  It's grafitti!

I managed to photograph these castles as we zoomed past in the car.  They are the three castles of Eguisheim.  The one in the middle (Wahlenbourg) was built in 1006 and destroyed in 1026, then rebuilt again.  The one on the right (Dagsbourg) was built in 1144 and destroyed in 1197, then rebuilt.  The one on the left (Weckmund) was built in 1226-1227.  All three castles were destroyed in 1466.