Homburg Castle Ruins

The whole area very clean and well restored. From the large defense tower you can enjoy a wonderful view of the surroundings and the Black Forest.

The Homburg ruin, also called Neu-Homberg, is located in the Swiss municipality of Läufelfingen in the canton of Basel-Landschaft.The ruin of the castle is located at 650 m above sea level. M. above the narrowest point of the named after her Homburgertal. From the SBB stations Buckten and Läufelfingen and from Bad Ramsach you can reach them on foot in about 30 minutes. The paths are signposted in yellow. From the viewing platform of the residential tower you have a view of the surrounding Jura hills.The impressive ruin is open to the public and consists of several parts of the building. The large tower is three-storey and gives a picture of the imposing complex of that time.The castle was built in 1240 by Count Hermann IV of Frohburg. He called them Neu-Homberg and took over for himself the name of Homberg from his wife, the heiress of the counts of (old) Homberg in Fricktal, a branch of the Counts of Thierstein. In 1303, the castle and the surrounding villages were sold to the Bishop of Basel. In 1400 it became the property of the city of Basel and served for the next 400 years as the seat of the bailiffs, who administered on their behalf, the Homburg Amtei. Due to border conflicts with the neighboring Solothurnern in the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle complex was expanded and strengthened. In 1798, Basel gave up the castle - or the castle, as it was known in the meantime - as the residence of the governor. After all that was still usable was cleared out and auctioned off, the villagers lit the hated castle on the night of January 23 to 24, 1798. The spirit of the French Revolution had also raised the population against the authorities in this country. The fire ruin was subsequently used as a quarry and disintegrated rapidly. From the private side were first made in the 1930s, restoration work. In 1941, the canton of Basel-Landschaft took over the Homburg and since then has been responsible for their maintenance. In 2008-2010, the facility underwent a thorough architectural history review and restoration.

Since the restoration (completed in 2011), the ruins are once again worth seeing and are easily accessible.