Alt-Süns Castle or Alt-Sins Castle german: Ruine Alt-Süns is a ruined castle in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Domleschg Domleschg is a municipality in the Viamala Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Almens, Paspels, Pratval, Rodels and Tomils merged to form the new municipality of Domleschg.

in the

Viamala Region Viamala Region is one of the eleven administrative districts in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It had an area of and a population of (as of ).. It was created on 1 January 2017 as part of a reorganization of the Canton. Merger ...

of the canton of Graubünden in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

History

Alt-Süns Castle was built around 1200 by the

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

von Vaz as the center of their estates in the

Domleschg valley The Domleschg ( rm, Tumleastga) is a valley in Graubünden in Switzerland. Geographically, the name "Domleschg" covers both sides of the valley. Politically, the villages on the left bank of the Posterior Rhine form the ''Kreis'' (sub-distric ...

. Their

Herrschaft The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...

of Paspels/Süns was first mentioned in a record in 1237, but the castle wasn't mentioned until 1285. When the last male heir of the Vaz line, Donat von Vaz, died in 1338, the castle and lands were inherited by the

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

s of Werdenberg-Sargans. They sold it to the von Matsch family in 1365, but retained the right to buy it back, which they did toward the end of the 14th century. The castle was specifically mentioned in a treaty between

Schwyz The town of Schwyz (; french: Schwytz; it, Svitto) is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the '' ...

Glarus , neighboring_municipalities= Glarus Nord, Glarus Süd, Muotathal (SZ), Innerthal (SZ) , twintowns= Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Germany) } Glarus (; gsw, Glaris; french: Glaris; it, Glarona; rm, Glaruna) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in S ...

and Werdenberg-Sargans in 1437. The castle was destroyed in 1451 during a war between the residents of the

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valley against Werdenberg-Sargans. The attackers demolished the south-west corner of the castle, rendering it useless. After a peace treaty was signed in 1452, the Counts abandoned the castle.

Castle site

The castle was built on a hill top near the village of Paspels and not far from Neu-Süns Castle. The main tower is located on the eastern side of the hill. It is and has thick walls. Except where the south-west corner was pulled down, the tower is four stories tall. The original tower was only three stories tall, but in a second construction phase, the fourth story was added as well as a

ring wall A curtain wall is a defensive wall between two fortified towers or bastions of a castle, fortress, or town. Ancient fortifications Evidence for curtain walls or a series of walls surrounding a town or fortress can be found in the historical ...

. The ring wall was built with decorative

opus spicatum ''Opus spicatum'', literally "spiked work," is a type of masonry construction used in Roman and medieval times. It consists of bricks, tiles or cut stone laid in a herringbone pattern. Uses Its usage was generally decorative and most commonly i ...

patterns in the stonework. Today only a portion of the eastern wall remains. On the western side of the hill there are a few traces of an

outer bailey An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bui ...

. It probably contained storage or production buildings, though nothing is visible today. A ditch separated the two parts of the castle.

Gallery

File:Alt Süns Aborterker.jpg,

Garderobe Garderobe is a historic term for a room in a medieval castle. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives as its first meaning a store-room for valuables, but also acknowledges "by extension, a private room, a bed-chamber; also a privy". The word der ...

or privy projecting out of the castle File:Alt Süns Bering.jpg, Castle wall with the opus spicatum or herringbone pattern visible File:Alt Süns1.jpg, Interior of the castle File:Alt Süns Wand.jpg, Interior of the castle

References

{{Authority control Castles in Graubünden Ruined castles in Switzerland Domleschg

History

Castle site

Gallery

See also

References