Orschwiller Travel Guide

 hquittner Says:  The furnishings of the Castle rooms are from various periods starting in the 1470 period and running into the 19C. We found there porcelain heating stoves of the 17C housed in many of the rooms. The only time we have ever seen such large appliances before was one from the... 

 hquittner Says:  There are various interior decorations to see. There are large rooms at the end of each floor. On the second floor is the Banqueting Hall and next to it is a hunting room. The Knights' Hall is the long room on the first floor. Each room contains 15-17C furnishings and 20C... 

 hquittner Says:  There is a well in the inner courtyard that is 62m deep and covered with an old covering that has classic Gothic sculptures at its corners. Inside there as a spiral stairwell that leads to the first level of rooms. 

 hquittner Says:  The castle occupies the flat top of a broad plateau where in the mid 15C it was essentially destroyed. In 1479 it was rebuilt. From then on it added artillery structure by the Counts of Theirstein and others until 1633 when the invading Swedes destroyed it again. The castle... 

 ranger49 Says:  Here in the Armoury Room you see some of the weapons of destruction from earlier ages.Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose 

 ranger49 Says:  On the way up, and down, from the castle through the steeply wooded pathway, and from the heights of the castle itself, panoramic and beautiful views of the surrounding countryside are visible at every step. 

 ranger49 Says:  It is difficult to keep track of the many lives of this amazing castle that still dominates the landscape of the Alsatian plain.Its origins date from the 12th Century; occupied by members of the Hapsburg regime during the 15th C. in1479 it was rebuilt in order to match its... 

 ranger49 Says:  Whenever I visit ancient castles, palaces and mansions I wonder - How on earth did people keep warm in those days!Well if you were one of the lucky ones that could stay close to one of the beautiful ceramic tiled stoves, found in so many rooms of the castle - you would have... 

 JLBG Says:  The Haut-Kœnigsbourg is seen from far away in the Alsace plain, then, no wonder that the sight is wide!The first photo is the northeastwards view. It shows Sélestat in the middle and Ebersheim on the left. Only a tiny part of Kintzheim shows out of the mountain on the far... 

 JLBG Says:  We soon saw among the trees the silhouette of a ruin (first photo).When we were closer (second photo), the ruin looked more imposing though roofless.The third photo shows that the rocks that were standing on top of the spur have been left and used to strengthen the walls.I... 

 JLBG Says:  When we left the Haut-Koenigsbourg, we found that besides the path that went down to where we had parked the car, there was another path that we had not noticed and that climbed gently. A sign said that there was another castle at 5 minutes. We had enough time to have a look... 

 JLBG Says:  The main bastion stands south to the entrance and protects the castle from any attack from the other end of the rocky spur.The first photo shows the main wall.The second photo shows the corner of the main wall, topped by a turret.The third photo shows the full south side of... 

 JLBG Says:  At first, I felt that this was a perfect example of “oeil-de-boeuf” (bull’s eye) as it actually looks much alike a bull’s eye but soon realized that it could not be named that way : a bull’s eye is a round window. This should be then a machicolation of a special shape. There... 

 JLBG Says:  In the center of the main yard stands a fountain. It gets its water from a spring but as we visited in winter, in order to avoid icing, the people in charge had diverted the water and nothing was flowing out of the mouth of the grotesques! 

 JLBG Says:  The first photo shows the tower that makes the entrance into the inner castle and the Thierstein home.The second photo shows the mill that allowed to ground wheat and make bread. The wings of the mill can be seen on top.The third photo shows better the mill itself, a small... 

 spanishguy Says:  I think Orschwiller itself is "off the beaten path" because everyone goes directly to visit the castle and they don't consider in visiting the small town, or it happended to us, because e went with the idea of seeing Haut Koenigsbourg. At least we went through the village...