En un regard
Le château en bref
Perched above the Warndt forest, Varsberg Castle, in Ham-sous-Varsberg, layers several centuries of Lorraine history. The ducal castle was built around 1258–1262 for Duke Ferry III of Lorraine, and Jean de Warsberg, who oversaw its construction, received the fief in 1283. According to local tradition, Guillaume de Trainel, Bishop of Metz, was supposedly held prisoner there in 1275. Destroyed around 1431, the fortress was rebuilt from 1435 by the Warsberg family, before being ruined during the Thirty Years' War. From this period survives a large round tower to the north, long topped with an onion dome that disappeared in 1945, as well as a well hewn out of the rock to a depth of nearly a hundred metres. In 1843, Charles Stoffels, a lawyer from Metz, bought the ruins and had an L-shaped residence built there; a neo-Gothic chapel was added in 1881. The east wing, set on fire in 1913, was rebuilt the same year. The estate remains private property, closed to the public.