Alt-Regensberg Castle

About

Alt-Regensberg Castle (Swiss German: Ruine Alt-Regensberg also referred to Altburg) is a hill castle which was built about the mid-11th century AD by the House of Regensberg in the Swiss municipality of Regensdorf in the Canton of Zürich.

The ancestral seat of the House of Regensberg was erected on a roughly 30 m (98 ft) high moraine hill and comprises a roughly hexagonal area of about 45 metres (148 ft) from west to east and 40 metres (131 ft) from south to north. The remains of the castle are located in Altburg, a locality of the municipality of Regensdorf in the Canton of Zürich. On its northwestern slope the small village of Altburg is situated, nearby the municipal boundary to Zürich-Affoltern and the Katzensee protected area.

The ruins were scientifically examined between 1955 and 1957. The archaeological findings showed four stages of construction: 11th and 12th century, as well as from 1180 to 1330 by the House of Regensberg, and about 1350 to 1458 by the Landenberg-Greifensee family, and the fourth construction phase from 1458 to 1468 by the then first private owner. The oldest finds suggest a first construction phase in the second half of the 11th century. The still visible massive walls of up to 4 metres (13 ft) width correspond to the essential features of the state after the third building phase. The excavated portions of the ruins, down to the bedrock, correspond to the living horizon of the first inhabitants of the mid-11th-century site.

The quadratic keep measures about 9 metres (30 ft) with about 3 metres (10 ft) thick walls and dates from the first construction phase. Its foundation goes about 4 metres (13 ft) below the earth's surface, and it is completely filled up to the surface-accessible at height of about 5.5 metres (18 ft). This massive construction should prevent that besiegers undermined the tower. The lowest floor was lit by wall slots. The elevated entrance was on the west side of the tower and was originally accessible by a ladder and a simple wooden platform. Later, there was a staircase in the north-west corner up to the entrance. The exterior of the residential tower has been transformed remarkably over the years. The outer casing of the 11th-century structure was filled with boll stones and mounted in horizontal mortar joints strokes. By 1200 the entire outer surface was chipped away and replaced with carefully edited boss squares. The whole tower thus received a much more upmarket appearance. In the northern part of the complex is a rectangular foundation wall leaning against the perimeter wall. Here arose in the 12th or early 13th century wooden buildings that served as stables and outbuildings. They were moved to the south and replaced by a palas in the course of the 14th century claimed the whole area between keep and circular wall in the northeastern area. The residential construction had two 2 metres (7 ft) wide cross walls to the west and south. Later the palas was expanded to the south. At the site the reservoir that was built in 1919, was a massive stone building serving as a cellar and storage since the 13th century.

To the northwest the entrance to the castle was situated, but the reconstruction of the circulary walls erroneously assumed that the entrance originally was built slightly south. Just behind the walled entrance, the foundations of the kennel were set being a second and internal access to the castle's interior. It was built around the mid-13th century. In the eastern part of the wall the foundations are strikingly deep and visibly strengthened at the corners because this was part of the earliest water supply. The cistern was about six 6 metres (20 ft) deep and was abandoned at the time when the kennel was built. There is a good case to believe that a 2 metres (7 ft) meter deep hole initially remained open, perhaps designed as a pitfall in case of an attack. In the early days, the castle was surrounded by a palisade. Only at the end of the 12th century a circular wall was built which rested on a 2 metres (7 ft) wide foundation. It was repeatedly repaired over time, increased and reinforced where it had to bear the 14th-century palace walls.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.