The DRAC, Department of Cultural Affairs of the Grand Est, is launching a study on the 22 protected castles owned by the State. This inventory will last more than a year. It will make it possible to schedule restoration and security work on the most vulnerable sites. The health assessment of these 22 medieval ruins will be known at the start of 2023.
Among the sites that will be auscultated by the chief architect of historical monuments, Pierre Dufour, we find the Grand-Geroldseck, near Saverne, the Bilstein, in Riquewihr or the Wasigenstein, in Niedersteinbach, in the Northern Vosges.
This inventory, which started in September 2021, will make it possible to launch essential projects with the partners concerned, associations, local authorities and ONF (the National Forestry Office, which reports to the Ministry of Agriculture). The Ministry of Culture cannot intervene directly on castles installed on plots of the Ministry of Agriculture.
– Corinne FUGLER
Evaluate the castral heritage of the State in Alsace
We must consolidate the ruins in their current state and prevent them from further withering, explains Alexandre Cojannot, regional curator of historical monuments in Alsace: “the current doctrine of historical monuments is to “crystallize” the ruins, to freeze them in an intelligent way. They must be restored so that the action of time is as slow as possible“.
The state wants to take care of its 22 castles. That will not, however, turn into new Haut-Koenigsbourg, a building restored by William II at the start of the 20th century. It is especially important to prevent them from becoming more damaged. And do pedagogy: “we intervene so that the ruin regains a legible aspect, intelligible to the public“.
In addition, an agreement is in preparation with the CEA, European Community of Alsace, and the “watchmen of castles”, to better protect these medieval ruins. Alsace has 62 protected ruins, a unique castle heritage in Europe.
It should be remembered that two communities watch over the two most visited fortified castles in Alsace, Haut-Koenigsbourg, near Sélestat, with the European Collectivity of Alsace, and Fleckenstein, near Wissembourg, managed by the Lembach tourist office.