ワイツビラーの洞窟・トップ8

Although the few remaining ruins of this structure are called a castle, it appears that the site was first used as a Roman temple and then as a Christian church. Nearby are superb rock formations typical of the Northern Vosges Mountains.

Very beautiful places in the calm of the forest

Sights: The former abbey church of St. Peter and Paul, founded around 720, belonged to one of the oldest monasteries on the Upper Rhine. In its early years, this was led by Saint Pirminius, among others. The church is one of the most artistically valuable and stylistically diverse in Alsace. It has a Carolingian crypt (8th century), Romanesque chapels (11th century), a choir and a transept in the transitional style to Gothic (late 12th century), a purely Gothic nave (13th century) and a classicist façade with a tower (1768). The remains of the monastery building (chapter house, one wing of the cloister) are of Gothic style (13th century). The furnishings are very rich (medieval gravestones and the Adelphus carpets from around 1470 with depictions of the life and miraculous work of St. Adelphus of Metz in the chapels; baptismal font, pulpit, Adelphus shrine, organ, Holy Sepulchre in the nave). The portals and rose windows are also remarkably designed and decorated. Archaeological remains of other buildings of the monastery complex can be seen to the north of the church. The now Protestant church of St. Adelphus was built between 1200 and 1225 in the transitional style from Romanesque to Gothic. It impresses with its powerful west facade and its simple interior. The choir of the church, which until then contained the reliquary and the Adelphus carpets depicting the life of St. Adelphus of Metz, was demolished in the 19th century and replaced by a flat wall. The Herrenstein Castle (ruin) was built at the beginning of the 13th century by the Counts of Dagsburg. In the 16th century it was converted into a fortress by the Alsatian military architect Daniel Specklin. Former synagogue, built in 1875, and Jewish cemetery, established in 1877

The remains are not the ruins of a small castle, as the popular name might suggest, but rather the remains of a Roman or Gallo-Roman sanctuary from the 2nd century, with a second phase of use in the 4th century. It may have later been used as a Christian church. In Curt Mündel's guide to the Vosges Mountains (1911 edition), the ruins are referred to as "Meisenbacher Schlössel," and the rock below as "Ochsenstall" (Oxen Stable), probably because the rock overhang was formerly used as a shelter for cattle.

The castle complex is located on a spur on the Daubenschlag rock (French: Rocher du Daubenschlag). All that is visible here are the foundations of a large castle. Behind the clearly visible moat there is a strong shield wall, against which a large square keep (base area 11 × 11 meters) leans in the middle. In the middle of the castle complex there are still remains of a palace.

Not much left to see but easy to incorporate as a loop from the main path.

When you arrive at the castle ruins, there is an information board with the history of the ruins. Entrance is around the corner

Great Trail S2 down to Buckelmühle; Please be considerate of the hikers