En un regard
Le château en bref
The ruin of Horen, often referred to on maps as Burg Rosenberg, occupies a wooded spur of the Kirchberg, at an altitude of 450 m and about 500 m north-west of the church of Küttigen (Aargau). It is a small motte castle (Hügelburg), whose original name, builder and exact date are all unknown. Excavations have shown occupation in the 12th century and abandonment around 1200; the interior fittings of the tower were destroyed by fire, as attested by a thick layer of burnt debris. The complex comprised an oval enclosure with a keep-house and a guardhouse, protected to the south-east by a cut ditch. The cantonal inventory presents it as the seat of the lords of Kienberg, advocates of the Beromünster monastery, but other hypotheses exist, and the site may have preceded the castle of Königstein, about 2 km away. The name "Horen" comes from the neighbouring farms and was only transferred to the ruin after the Middle Ages; the designation "Rosenberg" appeared in the 19th century. Overgrown by vegetation, the ruin was excavated and consolidated in 1960, and its masonry was then restored in 1989.
