The Château du Hohlandsbourg is a ruined castle Wintzenheim, near Colmar. The construction of the castle, on the order of the Provost of Colmar, Siegfried de Gundolsheim, dates from 1279. The site, 620 m above sea level, allowed for surveillance of Colmar and its region. In 1281, the townspeople of Colmar revolted and set fire to the castle with the help of the Bailiff, Otton d'Ochenstein.
The castle came under the control of the Ensisheims before being given in 1410 as a fiefdom to the Ribeaupierres, then Counts of Lupfen, who enlarged it. In the 16th century, the castle belonged to Lazarus von Schwendi, general of the Holy Roman Empire, who, it is said, brought Tokay vines from Hungary to Alsace. He enlarged and strengthened the castle.
With Alsace becoming French at the end of the Thirty Years' War, the castle welcomed troops who blew it up in 1637 to prevent it falling into the hands of an Austrian army.
Today Hohlandsbourg Castle offers a magnificent all-round panorama over the plain of Alsace and the Vosges Mountains. It is open to in summer season.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.