Photo : Original téléversé par Dsch67 sur Wikipédia français. / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Château du Bernstein
The Bernstein overlooks Dambach-la-Ville, in the Bas-Rhin, from a granite spur of the Dachfirst at about 560 metres, on the same ridge as the Ortenbourg. Mentioned around 1009, it keeps ruins from the late 12th or early 13th century, making it one of the oldest fortresses in Alsace.
It first belonged to the counts of Eguisheim-Dabo, then passed to the dukes of Lorraine. The Bishop of Strasbourg seized it in 1227 and it was assigned to the bishopric in 1236. The bishops moved their bailiwick to Benfeld in 1580 and the castle was abandoned; the Swedes plundered and burned it in 1632.
Built of granite, the upper castle has a pentagonal keep about 18 metres high, a seigneurial residence and a Romanesque tower. Of the lower castle, mainly the 15th-century Sainte-Marguerite tower survives. An underground gallery leads to a spring beneath the rock. The ruins, listed since 1932, are reached on foot from the village by hiking paths.
