En un regard
Le château en bref
Angenstein Castle stands on a rocky spur in the narrow gorge of the Birse, between Aesch and Duggingen (canton of Basel-Country), at the entrance to the Laufen Valley. Its name derives from this position on a ‘stone’ in the defile. Dendrochronological analyses date its construction to shortly after 1286. Its builders are poorly known, possibly the Münch family, ministerials of the Prince-Bishop of Basel, and the castle was subsequently held in fief by the counts of Thierstein and Habsburg-Laufenburg. The Basel earthquake of 1356 damaged it; it was rebuilt after 1364, then affected by fires in 1494 and 1517. In 1557, the episcopal chancellor Wendelin Zipper received the estate and converted the fortress into a residential castle; his family kept it until 1751. Transferred to the canton of Basel-City in 1951, the castle was restored from 1988 to 1991 following the fire of 1984. The square keep, measuring roughly 16 x 19 m with walls 2 m thick, dominates a group of lower buildings dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, as well as the Chapel of St Wendelin, which has three stained-glass windows from 1572. The castle today houses flats and is not open to visitors inside; the chapel, the hearth and the courtyard can be rented for events.
