Aris ob Kien Castle (german: Burg Aris ob Kien) is a ruined medieval castle from the 12th Century. It is located in the municipality of Reichenbach im Kandertal in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

History

The castle was probably built in the 12th century as the

family seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families ...

of 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 Kien. In the 13th century they abandoned the castle and moved to their second castle, the nearby

Mülenen Castle Mülenen Castle and the attached Letzi Mülenen wall are a ruined medieval fortification in the Mülenen, village of Mülenen and Reichenbach im Kandertal, municipality of Reichenbach im Kandertal, in the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Bern. The Let ...

. In 1934 the ruined castle was restored.

Location and description

The castle is located near the Kiene stream, a tributary of the Kander river. The 1934 renovation cleared and repaired the remaining castle. Today it is still well preserved, with parts of the castle tower, the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

, earthen walls and two ditches still visible. However, a third trench is no longer visible.

References

{{Castles of Bern Castles in the Canton of Bern