The Ruins of the Engelbourg Castle

25 minutes from the centre of Thann - only by foot - beautiful view

The Earl Frederic II of Ferrette made build the Engelbourg Castle in 1224, right on a promontory, thus controlling the opening of the Thur Valley in order to rule a toll.

The first time that the Castle was mentioned dates back to 1234 when the King Henry VII gave the properties and wealth that he seized from Louis the Wild (who had killed his father Frederic II) to the bishop of Basel. The bishop gave the castle bask, as a fief, to Ulrich II of Ferrette in 1251.

The Thirty Years' War brought the castle the fatal blow. Because the occupying forces changed seven times (the town too) between 1633 and 1639, it felt to Cardinal de Mazarin's share in a piteaous state. The Westphalie's treaties changed the borders from the Vosges to the Rhine, thus the castle lost its strategic interest; so Louis XIVth gave the order to demolish the Engelbourg castle in February 1673.

The demolition was done by minors from Giromagny. At the  third attempt, the huge tower fell and broke into several parts; one was named the Witch's Eye.