En un regard
Le château en bref
Alt-Kienberg is a small hilltop castle ruin perched on an exposed ridge of the Jura between Kienberg (Solothurn) and Oltingen, at an altitude of 772 m. A plateau of roughly 30 x 12 m is bounded by two ditches cut into the rock and dominated by a massive round tower, whose cellar has been cleared and whose remains have been partly consolidated. Long called Heidegg and taken to be the castle of the lords of Kienberg, later of Heidegg, the site was recognised as a distinct fortress after trial excavations and conservation work carried out in 1963–1964 by the Antiquities Commission of the canton of Solothurn. The finds, including a perforated scallop shell serving as a pilgrim badge for Santiago de Compostela, indicate occupation from the early 11th century until around 1200. The castle was probably the first centre of the lordship of Kienberg, whose lords are documented from 1173; no written source mentions it, hence its hypothetical name Alt-Kienberg. It was abandoned around 1200 for unknown reasons, probably because the site lent itself poorly to enlargement, in favour of the newer fortress of Kienberg-Heidegg, which became the seat of the lordship that passed to Solothurn in 1523.
