Château de Bainville-aux-Miroirs, Medieval castle ruins in Bainville-aux-Miroirs, France.

Château de Bainville-aux-Miroirs is a ruined medieval fortress on a rocky spur above the Moselle. Its surviving keep forms a 26-metre stone needle with a broken, jagged top; a few metres below the summit, the springing of a rib vault from a third-floor room is visible. A lower ruined mass retains a large semicircular arched opening, and a wall that carried a curtain wall also remains.

The castle was built around 1263 by Count Henri I of Vaudémont, though the chronicle of Moyenmoutier dates it to 1261, during conflicts between the count, the Duke of Lorraine and the Bishop of Metz. In 1268 an agreement with the abbey of Saint-Evre recognised the fortress. Lorraine troops ruined it in 1468, and after 1477 the duke forbade any rebuilding; the site then served as a stone quarry into the early 20th century.

The castle, church and Benedictine priory stood side by side, and their records show repeated disputes over rights and land. The priory followed the rule of Saint Gorze and was attached to Saint-Evre Abbey in Toul, which long kept the privilege of appointing the parish priest. After the monks left in the 17th century, the Toul clergy sold the estate, which became a farm.

The ruins stand on a rocky spur above the Moselle, away from the present village, beside the church and cemetery. A staircase leads up to the cemetery, and the ditch that once separated the castle from the graveyard survives as a garden to the left of these steps. The base of the keep was consolidated in recent works; the small room beneath the surviving stone needle has its entrance filled in.

Laboratory testing using carbon-14 dating revealed that the tower underwent modifications during the 15th century, shortly before its final destruction. This suggests the site was actively updated even as threats grew.