Château du Nideck

Seen The donjon of sub - Nideck from the waterfall from

The Nideck Castle is a medieval castle in the Vosges in Alsace. It belongs to the municipality of Oberhaslach in the department of Bas- Rhin.

Location

The castle is located five kilometers northwest of Oberhaslach in 550 meters on the slopes of Bear Mountain on a steep rhyolite rocks above the Haseltal. Immediately below is the 25 meter high waterfall Nidecker ( Cascade du Nideck ). Accessible is the ruin on trails from the Auberge Moosberg or by the Forest House Nideck (both on the road D 218 Oberhaslach - Wangenbourg ).

History

Nideck for the first time on seals of the viscount Günther, a henchman of the Bishop of Strasbourg, from 1262 mentioned ( Purcravii guntheri de Nideke ). A document from 1264 mentions a gentlemen " Burchardi de Nidecke ". In the first half of the 14th century, the Counts of Leiningen share of the castle, towards the end of the 14th century it was Ganerbenburg several Strasbourg Niederadliger. 1454 Nideck was conquered as robber barons of Ludwig von Lichtenberg. After this it disappears from the sources, probably it was abandoned in the 15th century because of its remoteness.

Plant

The system consists of the two sub- castles upper and lower - Nideck. After building features top Nideck was built around 1200. Are preserved remains of the shield wall of rough stone, a residential tower and the perimeter walls. The Viscount built after 1260, the early Gothic castle with the sub- preserved 20 -meter-high square keep.

Fiction

Nideck castle is known in German-speaking countries, especially through the 1816 handed down by the Brothers Grimm tale of the giant toy that inspired Adelbert von Chamisso to the poem The Giant toy: " Castle Niedeck is in Alsace to the legend well known ... " A device fitted to the tower entrance plaque of Vosgiens reminiscent of the poet.