Castelberg Castle (Ruin) (Luven)

It stands on a small wooded hill on the left side of the valley at the edge of the Glennertobel gorge and is easily accessible on foot via a path in about 10 minutes from the turn-off of the road to Luven (post bus stop).

The four-story tower has a square floor plan with a side length of nine meters and a wall thickness of about 1.8 meters. The rather irregular masonry consists of boulders and rubble stones. The cornerstones with bosses are partly made of tuff. The tower presumably had a projecting wooden superstructure. The round-arched high entrance with tuff jambs in the northeast wall is well preserved. The remains of the exterior plaster, which were still visible 20 years ago, have practically disappeared. On the southwest side, at the height of the 4th floor, there are remains of a latrine. The stone corbels of the bay window are still preserved, the door was later walled up. The tower has only a few slit-shaped windows. Inside, beam holes are visible through an opening. Strong reddening inside the tower suggests a fire. The tower cannot be entered.

Overgrown, decaying remains of a curtain wall indicate the extent of the rectangular complex. There are no indications of the location of an entrance gate. In the valley-side corner of the bailey, faint remains of an outbuilding are recognizable.

There are no written documents about the history of the complex. The tower was probably built in the first half of the 13th century. Exploratory excavations in 1968/69 yielded only a few small finds (knife blade around 1300, animal bones, pottery fragment), which suggests that the castle was occupied for only a short time.

Apparently, Castelberg served as the residence for the episcopal vassal family of Castelberg from the Ilanz area; they are first mentioned in 1289 with Wilhelm. A document from 1391 …ze Luuens ain huob genant colonia sur castiels…. certainly refers to Castelberg.

Subsequently, the von Castelbergs appear frequently in Rhaetian documents, mostly in connection with the bishop. As his vassals, they held various fiefs and offices. Between 1461 and 1468, Rudolf von Castelberg is attested as the episcopal vogt in Val Lumnezia. The expansion of the Castelberg family's possessions into Schams, Domleschg, and Vorarlberg led to the abandonment of Castelberg Castle in the early 14th century. The castle was already a ruin in the late Middle Ages.

Around the turn of the 15th to the 16th century, the Castelberg family split into two lines. One branch remained in Ilanz, the other settled in Disentis. The castle is still owned by the von Castelberg family today.