The Château du Nideck is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

located in the '' commune'' of

Oberhaslach Oberhaslach is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Population See also * Niederhaslach, a neighbouring commune * Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 communes of t ...

in the

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

History

Situated on the heights of the road from Oberhaslach to Wangenbourg, the castle was first mentioned in a

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

in 1264, as the property of sire Bourckard,

burgrave Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from , ), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especially a royal or episcopal castle, and its territory called a ''Burgraviate'' or ''Burgr ...

of Nideck. In 1336 there is mention of a second castle, below the first,

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

of the

Bishop of Strasbourg Archbishops

*Charles Amarin Brand (16 July 1984 – 23 October 1997) (with rank of archbishop from 1988) *Joseph Doré (23 October 1997 – 25 August 2006) *Jean-Pierre Grallet (21 April 2007 – 18 February 2017) *Luc Ravel (18 February 2017 ...

and held by the

landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

s of Basse-Alsace. Nideck then became the property of the

seigneurs A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owned a seigneurie, seigneury, or lordship—a form of ...

of the region, in the 14th and 15th centuries, according to the various regional conflicts and other events of the time. It was besieged by the

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

eois in 1448. The Müllenheim family took possession of the castle and kept it until 1509. It was finally destroyed by a fire in 1636. The castle overlooks the Nideck waterfall and is easily reached on foot. The castle has been listed since 1898 by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

as a ''

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 collection of buildings, ...

'' and is owned by the state. Château fort de Nideck

The Legend of Nideck

In 1816 the legend of Nideck joined the fairy tale of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

«Das Riesen-Spielzeug» (''The Giant's Toy''). This story inspired the poet

Adalbert von Chamisso Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 1781 – 21 August 1838) was a German poet, writer and botanist. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Boncourt, a name referring to the family estate at Boncourt. Life ...

to write ''Das Riesenfräulein'' (''The Giant's Daughter''). The tale relates how the castle was inhabited by a couple of giants and their little daughter. Bored one day, she walked as far as the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

plains and found what she took to be some living toys. Once returned to the castle, her father explained to her that they were men and that they must be left in their place because they cultivated the land to feed the giants.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nideck, chateau du Ruined castles in Bas-Rhin Monuments historiques of Bas-Rhin pnb:شتو نیڈک