Château du Hugstein

The Château du Hugstein is a ruined castle on the borders of the communes of Buhl and Guebwiller in the Haut-Rhin département of France.

It was constructed between the communes of Buhl and Guebwiller, to defend both the Murbach Abbey and the entrance to the Florival valley.

In 1313, the abbot Conrad Wiedergrun de Stauffenberg consecrated the castle chapel to the Holy Cross and Saint Benoît.

Abbot Barthélémy d'Andlau modernised the castle during the 15th century, notably adding a gate tower decorated with a frieze and equipped with a drawbridge (visible in the photo).

The Gothic keystone to the chapel vault, decorated with an Easter lamb, is displayed at the Florival Museum (Musée Théodore Deck) in Guebwiller The defences consisted of ramparts rounded at the corners, designed to create an illusion to attackers that the castle was equipped with cylindrical towers.