En un regard
Le château en bref
The Vorburg is the ruin of a hilltop castle built on a rocky spur north of the village of Oberurnen, in the municipality of Glarus Nord (canton of Glarus). The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland describes it as the most important ruin in the canton. Probably built in the 13th century, possibly as a castle of the Windegg family, it had become an administrative centre of the Habsburgs by around 1300, who were then seeking to consolidate their hold over the Glarus region with the nearby castle of Näfels. After the Glarners destroyed the latter in 1351, the administrative function passed to the Vorburg, probably enlarged at that point; it then likely housed the Austrian bailiff, a Windegg. A deed of 1369 shows it pledged to Rudolf Stucki, and it was probably partly destroyed by the Glarners in 1386 before being abandoned. The high north-west wall of the palas survives in particular. An excavation carried out in 1970 uncovered traces of an outbuilding, and the Pro Vorburg Oberurnen foundation has maintained and preserved the ruin since 2002.