Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

The Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg is a medieval castle located in the Vosges mountains just west of Sélestat, situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.

The moment you step over the threshold of the great door at Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle, you find yourself in a whole new world: the Middle Ages. The omni-present drawbridges, armoury, keep and cannons are a constant reminder of the purpose of this mountain fortress, which has been besieged, destroyed and pillaged numerous times since its construction. This prestigious fortress was abandoned after 1633, and then given to Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1899 by the town of Sélestat. He commissioned the architect Bodo Ebhardt, a specialist in medieval fortifications, to restore the castle. Its renovation satisfied his passion for the Middle Ages, whilst he dreamed of a return to the old German Empire.