Burg Grüneck

Burg Grüneck stands on a hilltop 704 metres above sea level near the village of Obereggenen in the Black Forest. It overlooks the valley of the Wiese and the Hochblauen massif to the west. The site once formed part of a Celtic ring-wall before medieval builders added a stone keep. Traces of the keep remain today, a square tower measuring fourteen by sixteen metres with walls two to three metres thick. The castle’s origins may date to the tenth or eleventh century when it was first built as a wooden earthwork. By the 13th century it had been rebuilt in stone, probably serving as a small watch-post for local silver mining. In 1272 the fortress was destroyed during a war between Count Rudolf of Habsburg and the Bishop of Basel. Later records suggest the lords of Kaltenbach may have held the site, along with nearby castles such as Bürgeln and Sausenburg. Visitors reach the ruins by following the Grüneckweg and Oberer Grüneckweg from Landesstraße L 132. The final hundred metres cross rough scrub and rock. Only low foundations and sections of the massive tower walls survive, set among young trees planted after the site was levelled before 1900. The view from the hilltop takes in the surrounding vineyards and the broad plain of the Upper Rhine.