Alt-Bechburg ruin, Castle ruin in Holderbank, Switzerland

Alt-Bechburg is a castle ruin in the Canton of Solothurn with stone walls rising on a hilltop above the surrounding valleys. The remains display the layout of medieval fortifications and living quarters that date back a thousand years.

Alt-Bechburg was built in the 11th century by the Barons of Bechburg on a narrow rock ridge above the Buchsiterberg pass. Through inheritance it split into two parts held by different owners, becoming a Ganerbenburg; the rear castle stayed with the family while the front castle was a fief of the Bishop of Basel, granted to the Frohburg counts and then to the Falkenstein counts. Knight Heinrich von Ifenthal bought the front castle in 1325 and the rear in 1336, reuniting them; his granddaughter Margreth von Ifenthal sold the whole to the city of Solothurn in 1416. Neglected under the Bloch family, who held it as a hereditary lease from 1572 to 1668, it burned down in 1713 and was excavated and conserved in 1936–1937.

The ruins reveal how a local noble family once lived and governed from this elevated position. The remaining walls show the layout of their fortress home, giving visitors a sense of medieval power and status.

The site is reachable on foot from Holderbank and sits on a hilltop with good views of the surrounding area. Visitors should wear sturdy footwear since the path uphill is steep and the ruins themselves have uneven ground.

During the 1936 excavations a broken jug was found holding over 5,000 coins, all but eight of them "silent" silver pieces struck on both sides with a double-knobbed cross or wheel, probably at Solothurn around 1180. The hoard was transferred to the Historisches Museum Blumenstein.