France · 13th century
The Château du Girsberg (also Guirsberg, formerly named Petit-Ribeaupierre) is one of three castles (with the Château de Saint-Ulrich and the Haut-Ribeaupierre) which overlook the commune of Ribeauvillé in the Haut-Rhin département of France. It stands at an altitude of 528 m.
The Lords of Ribeaupierre built the castle, then named Stein (La Roche), in the 13th century. They rebuilt it after a fire caused by lightning in 1288. In 1304, they gave it to their vassals, the knights of Guirsberg, from whom the castle took its name. The Guirsbergs kept it until they died out in the 15th century. It was abandoned in the 17th century. The remains currently visible date from several epochs:
13th century : pentagonal keep 14th century : inner court 15th century : corps de logis It has been listed since 1841 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.
Text adapted from “Château du Girsberg” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Château du Girsberg ranks #6,046 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #540 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. 19 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Colmar, 14 km away. It is one of the 63 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Alsace. It is stop 26 of 32 on the Alsace castle route, Wissembourg to Mulhouse. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
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