Hohenbourg Castle

The Hohenbourg Castle, probably built at the end of the 12th century by a branch of the Fleckenstein family, was intended to monitor the border with Lorraine and secure the imperial road connecting Kaiserslautern to Haguenau. The first written mention of the site dates back to 1263, under the name Puller de Hohenbourg. When the Hohenbourg lineage ended in 1482, the castle passed to the Sickingen family, a powerful Palatine family. François de Sickingen then modernized the fortress by adding a barbican in 1520 to adapt it to artillery. Between 1572 and 1575, beautification works were carried out, leaving traces such as door frames adorned with Renaissance sculptures. The Hohenbourg became an occasional residence for the Sickingen family before being destroyed in 1680 by order of Louis XIV, by the troops of Montclar. Today, access to the site is prohibited due to the instability of the structure until further notice, with a reassessment planned for August 2026. To reach it, start from the Fleckenstein welcome site, follow the trail marked with a red rectangle (GR 53) to the Schlossberg pass, then take the path marked with a red-white-red rectangle leading to the ruins of Loewenstein before reaching those of Hohenbourg, after about a 35-minute walk.