The Château du Wineck is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

in the '' commune'' of

Katzenthal Katzenthal () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Population See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin département The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French department of Haut-Rhin. ...

in the Haut-Rhin '' département'' of France. It was constructed during the 13th and 14th centuries.

Description

Surrounded by vineyards, the castle stands on a granitic rocky outcrop. The

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

is 20 metres high with an almost square plan (7 m by 7.5 m). A modern external staircase on the western side of the keep gives access to the first floor via a 19th-century entrance. A modern interior staircase gives access to higher levels. Originally, the second floor was entered via a high door in

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

arch off a walkway in the south wall (today, a wooden balcony) leading to the roof of the residence to the west of the keep. On the third floor, to the north, a latrine remains. In the south-eastern corner of the roof there is a gargoyle. The original parapet has been restored. The horseshoe shaped '' enceinte'' enclosed the keep from the north and parts of its round walk still exists. To the west of the keep was the residence; to the east the stables. A second ''enceinte'' opposite the castle sheltered the lower courtyard. 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 ...

surrounding the castle was cut into rock in the north.

Protection

The ''Société pour la Conservation des Monuments historiques en Alsace'' (Society for the conservation of historic monuments in Alsace) acquired the castle in 1866 and has owned it ever since. From 1972, the castle was restored by the ''Société pour la Restauration et la Conservation du Château de Katzenthal'' (Society for the Restoration and Conservation of the Château de Katzenthal).Information board on site The castle was listed in 1984 as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' by the French Ministry of Culture. In 1991, the surrounding '' enceinte'' was also listed.

References

External links

* * Jean Meyer
"1972 : Les Amis du Wineck"
''Revue d’Alsace'' 135 (2009), p. 255-257 (Accessed 17 March 2013) Monuments historiques of Haut-Rhin Ruined castles in Haut-Rhin {{France-castle-stub fr:Katzenthal#Le Château du Wineck