Kintzheim Castle
| Kintzheim Castle | ||
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 Kintzheim castle ruins from the southeast |
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| Alternative name (s): | Château de Kintzheim | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Kintzheim | |
| Geographical location | 48 ° 15 '23 " N , 7 ° 23' 12" E | |
| Height: | 260 m | |
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Kintzheim Castle ( Kinzheim , French Château de Kintzheim ) is the ruin of a medieval spur castle in the Alsatian Vosges . It belongs to the municipality of Kintzheim in the Bas-Rhin department .
location
Kintzheim Castle is located west of the village of Kintzheim on a low mountain spur called Schlossberg at an altitude of 260 meters on the edge of the mountain. The ruins can be reached via a short footpath from a large visitor car park at the entrance to the Hohkönigsburg . The castle is only open in the summer season and there is a fee to enter.
history
Kintzheim Castle was first mentioned in 1270 as castrum Kunegesheim . The early Gothic tracery windows indicate that it was built around 1250. It initially belonged to the Lords of Rathsamhausen . After several changes of ownership (expansion around 1480 by Caspar von Mörsberg ) it fell to the city of Schlettstadt in 1492 . The castle, which was damaged in the Thirty Years' War , returned to private ownership in 1649. Around 1740 it was inhabited by a hermit . After the French Revolution , it began to decline. Major renovations took place in 1876, but it was not until 1965 that the castle ruins were placed under monument protection.
investment
The well-preserved inner castle has the ground plan of a somewhat displaced 35 by 20 meter rectangle. Behind a deep moat more than 15 meter high cover shield wall and a centrally abutting, 27 meters high round keep the western wing. As an architectural feature, the 5.5 meter wide section of the shield wall adjoining the keep is raised to the top, so that the tower on the upper floors has the unusual floor plan of a keyhole . On the south and east side there are two residential wings, on the north wall there is the late Gothic St. James chapel . Also striking are the four meter thick southern extension of the shield wall with casemate and a square corner tower covering the main gate, both from the late 15th century. The spacious outer bailey is largely leveled. Today it is used by the bird of prey observatory as a space for aviaries and flight demonstrations.
Raptor station
Since 1968 Kintzheim Castle has been the seat of the much-visited bird of prey Volerie des Aigles .
literature
- Thomas Biller, Bernhard Metz: The early Gothic castle building in Alsace (1250-1300) (= The castles of Alsace. Architecture and history. Vol. 3). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-422-06132-0 . Pp. 166-173
- Nicolas Mengus, Jean-Michel Rudrauf: Châteaux forts et fortifications médiévales d′Alsace. Dictionnaire d′histoire et d′architecture . La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2013, ISBN 978-2-7165-0828-5 . P. 178 f.
Web links
- Kintzheim Castle on dickemauern.de
- Kintzheim Castle on kastel.elsass.free (French)
- Volerie des Aigles
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official website of the Volerie des Aigles ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
