Strahlegg castle ruins
| Strahlegg castle ruins | ||
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 View from the north |
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| Alternative name (s): | Strahlegg Castle | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Construction: | uh roman watchtower | |
| Place: | Amden | |
| Geographical location | 47 ° 8 '6 " N , 9 ° 8' 51" E | |
| Height: | 455 m above sea level M. | |
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The castle Strahlegg stands on the northern shore of Lake Walen in the municipality of Amden on an advanced bank tongue in Hinterbetlis, some 30 meters above the lake level. The ruin is classified as worthy of national protection and is therefore under the highest status of cultural property protection granted in Switzerland (KGS no .: 9649).
history
The castle is not mentioned in a document, so its year of construction can only be estimated. In 1388, Strahlegg Castle served as an outpost against the Confederation in the Näfels war between Austria and Habsburg and was therefore conquered and destroyed by the Glarnern.
The first excavation took place in August 1861. It turned Ferdinand Keller noted that there must be a medieval castle. Later, Roman ceramic fragments were found during explorations. Overall, however, the complex could not be dated. It was not until 1960 that a careful archaeological investigation was carried out. It was found that it must have been a Roman watchtower, which was built in 15 BC. Was built under the Roman Emperor Augustus . There is a line of sight to two other watchtowers; the first in the hamlet of Voremwald near Filzbach am Kerenzerberg, the second on the Biberlichopf near Ziegelbrücke. It was found that part of the masonry dates from the Middle Ages, so the ruined Roman tower was rebuilt at that time.
Building
The tower has a square floor plan with a side length of 10.4 by 10.4 meters. There is still a 6 meter high masonry made of stored, roughly hewn limestone. Medieval masonry can only be found at the top on the west wall. The foundation is separated inside and outside by six neatly executed paragraphs. The uppermost paragraph lies on the inside above the former beam position. There are beam holes on all four sides, whereby probably only the holes in the north and south walls seem to have taken up a layer of beams, the others seem to have been used for an external battlement. The entrance is on the south side, where the wall was broken out.
literature
- Bernhard Anderes: The Art Monuments of the Canton of St. Gallen, Volume 5: The District of Gaster , Volume 59 of the series The Art Monuments of Switzerland . Birkhäuser 1970, pp. 32-33.
- Katrin Roth-Rubi and a .: New view of the "Walensee Towers": Complete find template and historical interpretation , in: Yearbook of the Swiss Society for Prehistory and Early History , Vol. 87, 2004.
- Rudolf Laur-Belart : Strahlegg and Biberlikopf, two other early Roman watch posts on Lake Walen , in: Ur-Schweiz , 24, 3/4, 1960.
- Thomas Bitterli-Waldvogel: Swiss Castle Guide , Basel / Berlin, 1995.
Web links
- Regula Steinhauser: Strahlegg castle ruins. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ August Naef, Chronicle or Memories of the City and Landscape of St.Gallen , Zurich / St. Gallen 1867, page 986
gallery
The ruin is in the center of the picture
View from the west
inner north corner
inner south corner
