En un regard
Le château en bref
The ruins of Hohenhewen Castle crown the wooded summit of the Hohenhewen (around 845 m), one of the former basaltic volcanic cones that dominate the landscape of the Hegau, above the village of Anselfingen, a district of the town of Engen. The fortress was built in the 12th century by the lords of Engen, known from the mid-11th century, who subsequently adopted the name of their new seat and became the barons of Hewen. The centre of a lordship comprising the town of Engen and several other castles, it came under the orbit of the Habsburgs from 1291, before being pawned in 1398 by indebted heirs. The counts of Lupfen-Stühlingen held it from 1404; under their rule, the castle acquired a reputation as a lair of marauding knights. It withstood several sieges, notably by the Swabian League in the 15th century, by the Swiss Confederates in 1499 and during the Peasants' War. It was finally captured and destroyed in 1639 by Bavarian troops during the Thirty Years' War, then abandoned by the Fürstenbergs. The whole site, about 250 m long, retains only sections of wall: remains of the gateway and lower curtain wall, foundations of outbuildings and a wall of the residential tower, converted into a belvedere. Owned by the Land of Baden-Württemberg since the late 1950s, the site also hosts a television transmitter.
