Burg Grünburg

The Burg Grünburg once stood high above the Gauchach gorge near Löffingen-Unadingen in the Black Forest. Its builders, the Lords of Grünburg, appear in records from 1297 as ministeriales of the Fürstenberg family. The monastery of St Gallen also held rights here before the castle passed to the Lords of Blumberg in 1323. Later owners included the Lords of Bern and, from 1452, the Lords of Almshofen, whose last resident, Heinrich von Almshofen, left around 1473. By 1487 the site was called a Burgstall, and in 1513 Count Wilhelm of Fürstenberg acquired what remained. Only small stretches of wall survive today, marking the vanished medieval stronghold. The ruins lie on a wooded spur above the gorge, offering quiet walks among ferns and beech. Visitors can trace the outline of the old keep and curtain walls set into the slope. A low stone platform shows where the great hall once stood, while a shallow ditch marks the outer defences. The site is small but clear enough to picture the fortress in its prime. From the spur there are wide views over the Gauchach valley and the surrounding forest. A forest track leads up from Unadingen in twenty minutes, passing mossy boulders and spruce stands. The air is cool even in summer, and the only sounds are wind in the treetops and the occasional call of a jay. The place feels remote despite being close to farmland, giving a sense of how the castle once commanded the land below.