Haut Koenigsburg

Today, we left Colmar and went to Le Chateau Haut Koenigsburg (I think that’s how it’s spelled), the Castle Haut Koenigsburg.  Needless to say, I got very engrossed in it.

Quick history: It was first mentioned in history in around 1100 AD.  It was originally built with Romanesque architecture.  It later became a fiefdom of a larger powerful family and was renovated/updated in 1479 to handle modern artillery.  During the 30 years war, it was laid to siege and then left vacant after its capture.  In 1865, it came into Germany possession (Germany and France throughout history always vied for the Alsace region). It was given to the German Emperor William II as a gift in 1899, in remarkably good condition for the amount of time it was left to nature.  The Emperor immediately set to work rebuilding it using the most modern renovation techniques available for two purposes: create a display of german influence in the area, and preserve the remarkable property in the most consistent style of it’s original 1500’s design to be displayed as a permanent museum.  Using photographs, electric power, bellows-powered vacuums, and steam powered engines (all very cutting edge technology at the time), alongside extremely intensive scientific and archeological research with 9 continuous and expensive years of work, the german project was successfully completed with hundreds of artifacts gathered both on site and at auction.  Ironically, as part of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) at the end of World War I, Germany was forced to concede the entire castle and property to France.

Fortunately, France didn’t screw with it.

I post a few pictures of it here, but I recommend looking it up online.  It is a very impressive piece of property.

On the way home, I had a “McBaguette.” Not too bad, but I feel like there was a little more pork in the meat than one would expect to taste in America.

We got Etsy too.  She was very happy to see us!  Now, back to the grind tomorrow.