Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

The castle's origins date back to the first half of the 12th century when it was built as a Hohenstaufen imperial castle. It was first documented in 1147 as Castrum Estufin. In the 13th century, the castle came into the possession of the Duke of Lorraine, who granted it as a fief to the Counts of Werd. After changing hands, it was destroyed in 1462 due to robber barony. Emperor Frederick III enfeoffed the Swiss Counts of Thierstein with the castle in 1479. Following the extinction of this line, the complex reverted to Emperor Maximilian I in 1517, thus becoming Habsburg property. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was conquered and set ablaze by Swedish troops in 1633. After the Franco-Prussian War and the annexation of Alsace to the German Empire, the city of Sélestat gifted the ruin to Emperor Wilhelm II in 1899. He commissioned its restoration between 1901 and 1908. Since 1919, the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg has been French state property, and since 2007, it has belonged to the Bas-Rhin department.