Hunebourg Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Hunebourg Castle is located west of Neuwiller-lès-Saverne in the Bas-Rhin. Today, the castle site stands on a sandstone rock at an altitude of 425 metres. It can be reached from the Zinsel valley. The Counts of Hunebourg, most probably descended from the Counts of Dabo-Metz — that is, from the Folmar of Bliesgau-Metz-Lunéville through the male line and from the Eguisheim-Dabo, Counts of the Nordgau, through the female line — are mentioned at the beginning of the 12th century in documents that record the existence of the castle and of the first two counts, Theoderic and Folmar. The lords of Hunebourg, who owned the castle until 1225, were advocates (avoués) of the abbeys of Neuwiller and Honau. The castle was completely razed at the beginning of the 19th century and turned into a pleasure park. A new castle in the Neo-Romanesque style began to be built on the site from 1935 onwards by the autonomist Fritz Spieser and became a major centre of collaboration with the Nazi regime during the Second World War. The end of the war, however, put an end to Spieser's grandiose project, and only part of the planned buildings was constructed. The building has been registered as a historic monument since 22 June 2007.