Lenzburg Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Lenzburg Castle (German: Schloss Lenzburg) overlooks the old town of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland. An ancient and important fortified castle, it is listed as a Swiss cultural property of national significance. The site, occupied since prehistoric times, lies at an altitude of 508 metres on the Schlossberg, an almost circular molasse hill that rises some hundred metres above the plain. The castle takes its name from the Counts of Lenzburg, who probably established their seat on the hill in the 11th century. The castle belonged to the Staufer from 1173, then to the Kyburgs from 1230, and to the Habsburgs from 1273. Following Bern's conquest of western Aargau in 1415, the castle served as the seat of Bernese bailiffs for more than 350 years. Property of the canton of Aargau from 1804, the building then housed a boys' college and passed into private hands in 1860. A foundation established by the canton of Aargau and the town of Lenzburg bought the castle in 1956 from the widow of the American polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and opened it to the public. The castle, surrounded by a curtain wall, comprises seven buildings erected between the 12th century and the early 18th century. Built mainly in Baroque and Gothic styles, they are arranged in a horseshoe shape around an inner courtyard.