Château du Petit-Ringelstein

The ruins of Klein-Ringelstein castle sit at 640 metres on the Petit Ringelsberg in the Alsatian Vosges, half-consumed by dense mixed forest. Despite a conventional founding date of around 1200, the masonry evidence points to origins in the 10th or 11th century, making it likely older than the neighbouring Groß-Ringelstein castle — possibly its very predecessor. The earliest documentary trace is from 1137, when one Anselmus de Ringelstein is mentioned in a chronicle, credited with healing the inhabitants of the village of Haslach; whether he was a physician, a cleric, or a feudal lord remains unresolved. Today the ruin is accessible only by an unmarked forest trail, rewarding those who find it with crumbling curtain walls and open ridge-top views across the Vosges.