Münchenstein Castle

Geschichte

Münchenstein Castle is a landmark above the village centre of Münchenstein, in the canton of Basel-Land in Switzerland. The ruins of the castle can still be visited and viewed, but are under private ownership.LocationThe ruins of Münchenstein Castle are situated on a long, but narrow rock. There are only slender remains of the walls to be seen, these are directly above the centre of the village. The ruins of the castle (Schloss) can still be visited and viewed, but are under private ownership.HistoryUp until the foundation and the erection of the Castle, the small residential colony only had a few houses and was named Geckingen. The first historical records in written form was in 1196 and the colony was named as Kekingen.Around the year 1260, the up-rising cavalier family Münch acquired the village on the hills adjacent to the river Birs and established their estate there. The exact dates of the castle erection remains unclear, but most likely building began in the time between 1260 and 1270.The founders of the castle on the rock were the father and son Hugo II Münch and Hugo III Münch. Then, under Hugo Münch IV, the castle was expanded and extended and a ring wall was built around the village during the following 60 years. The cavalier Münch named themselves henceforth Münch von Münchenstein. After 1279 the village Geckingen was called Münchenstein. The Münchs were not able to keep the village and castle for long as their own property. During 1280 they had to hand over the ownership to the Graf von Pfirt, who then lent it to the Münchs in fief.In March 1324, after the death of the last Graf on Pfirt, Ulrich III, the castle and the village of Münchenstein was inherited by the Herzog of Austria, as heiress Johanna von Pfirt was married to Herzog Albrecht II von Habsburg .