Château du Girsberg

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 #5,061 of 7,044 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #399 of the 456 mapped in France. Founded 1300, it is older than 62% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 781 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. See how France compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗