France · 13th century
The Château de Wangenbourg is a ruined castle in the commune of Wangenbourg-Engenthal in the Bas-Rhin département of France.
In 1504, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilien I, having vanquished the Prince-elector, Philipp, in the war of succession of Bavaria, confiscated the castle from the Lords of Wangen, cousins Hans and Stephan von Wangen, for the favor to count Tiestein, who himself gave it to the Archbishop of Strasbourg, Wilhelm III von Hohnstein, in 1516. Nevertheless, a branch of descendants of the von Wangens, Georg and Hartmann, continued to occupy the castle. Between 1535 and 1550, they reconstructed their logis in the Renaissance style (see photograph below).
From 1578, the Archbishop of Strasbourg and the lords of Wangen disputed property rights concerning the castle. The Wangens were expelled in 1578, but re-established their rights in 1595. In 1680, the castle was occupied by French troops. In 1702, it was in ruins.
Restoration of the castle started at the beginning of the 20th century, and again in 1931. The footbridge in the photograph was constructed in 1961 to replace the old drawbridge.
Text adapted from “Château de Wangenbourg” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Château de Wangenbourg ranks #7,596 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #719 of the 793 mapped in France. Founded c. 1300, it is older than 61% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. 20 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Strasbourg, 33 km away. It is one of the 63 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Alsace. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
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