Kastelen Tower Ruins, Medieval castle ruin in Alberswil, Switzerland
Kastelen Tower is a medieval castle ruin in Alberswil that rises to about 21 meters high at an elevation of 651 meters. The structure displays characteristic features of medieval defensive architecture with preserved stone walls and foundations.
The residential tower was built between 1249 and 1253 for Count Hartmann V of Kyburg, as dendrochronology of beams still in the masonry shows. After the Kyburgs died out around 1264 the castle passed to the Habsburgs, and in 1273 Kastelen became the seat of a Habsburg district. In 1653, during the Peasants' War, it was plundered and badly damaged, then repaired at the peasants' expense; in 1743 Lucerne had it demolished down to the outer walls of the main building.
The tower holds the status of a Class A Swiss cultural property of national significance and is part of the broader Kastelen Cultural Landscape. The stone walls and foundations show how people lived and worked at this location during the Middle Ages.
The ruin is reached on foot from Alberswil or from the Swiss Agricultural Museum Burgrain in just under half an hour; the path via Schloss Kastelen passes a hornbeam avenue. A metal viewing tower with two platforms stands inside the residential tower, reached by an outdoor staircase to the high entrance. The lower platform gives a view of the inner walls; the tower floor is accessible only on guided tours.
The well beside the tower is 57.6 m deep, one of the deepest shaft wells of its kind in Switzerland. Two lamps light it so visitors can see the water through the grating; the level stays at 2.2 m because 200 litres flow in and drain away each day.
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