Heidburg

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Heidburg, also known as the "Steinschlössle", occupied an isolated conical hill about 620 m above sea level, on the ridge line between the Kinzig and Elz valleys, in the municipality of Hofstetten (Ortenau). The site marked the former boundary between the Breisgau and the Ortenau, as well as between the dioceses of Constance and Strasbourg, and overlooked the Hofstetter Steige road linking these two regions. Probably built by the counts of Fürstenberg, the castle is mentioned in 1284 when it was sold to the lords of Schwarzenberg; a chapel dedicated to St Michael appears in 1289. The Fürstenbergs later reclaimed it, then pledged it to burghers of Freiburg, to the Malterer and to the Falkenstein families, while numerous co-lords succeeded one another there. In 1519, Jakob von Falkenstein sold it to Count Friedrich of Fürstenberg. Already in ruins before 1623, the site was redeveloped as a Baroque fortress at the end of the 17th century, then abandoned around 1704. In the 19th century, the core was quarried. Today only the plateau, measuring about 135 by 75 m, remains, along with traces of a ditch and bastioned earthworks, as well as a well.