Luxembourg · Partial ruin
Bourscheid Castle
Bourscheid Castle is a medieval hilltop fortress near the village of Bourscheid in north-eastern Luxembourg, perched on a rocky promontory about 150 metres above the River Sûre. The complex comprises an outer circular curtain wall with multiple round watchtowers, an upper and lower castle with domestic ranges, and a prominent rectangular keep; it was extended through the 14th–16th centuries and today survives as a largely open-air, visitable ruin.
First raised
1001
Its prime
1600
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1600
What Bourscheid Castle looked like in its prime.
Perched on a high rocky spur above a meandering river, the castle presents an oval plan enclosed by a continuous grey-stone curtain wall punctuated by cylindrical watchtowers (eleven in the outer circuit). Several outer towers are capped with steep conical roofs; a taller rectangular keep with crenellated top dominates the upper ward. Multiple stepped terraces and inner ranges of stone buildings with gabled roofs fill the courtyards, and 16th-century artillery bastions project from the wall faces. At its prime the roofs, battlements and chimneys were intact.
Its story
The story of Bourscheid Castle.
Bourscheid Castle stands on a rocky promontory some 150 metres above the River Sûre, on a site with archaeological evidence of structures reaching back to Roman times. Extended through the 14th to 16th centuries, the medieval castle is enclosed by a circular outer wall with eleven watchtowers, wrapped around an upper and lower castle and a prominent rectangular keep.
After 1626 the castle was owned by the House of Metternich, until the French Revolution put an end to their feudal power. Schenk von Schmidtburg, who acquired it at the end of the 18th century, undertook some repair work but was unable to prevent further degradation.
The castle became a listed site in 1936, and in 1972, with the encouragement of an association called the Friends of the Castle of Bourscheid, the State acquired the building and undertook extensive repairs. It survives today as a largely open-air, visitable ruin above the Sûre.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1600.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Bourscheid Castle, including 3 interiors: stolzembourg house (1384), interior room, chapel interior (pre-collapse), great hall with fireplace and chimney. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Bourscheid Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1600, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Castle Siege
Play Castle Siege at Bourscheid Castle.
A strategy game played on Bourscheid Castle’s real ground plan: the same surveyed walls shown in the archive below. Post your finite garrison on the battlements between assaults, then hold out as rams, siege towers, trebuchets and sappers arrive in ever-worse waves.
Sign in free to see the garrison muster. One castle costs 150 Clan Coins and is yours forever.
Sign in to take command →Whose castle
Clans who held Bourscheid Castle.
The families that held Bourscheid Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Metternich
Held by the House of Metternich from 1626 until the French Revolution ended its feudal power.
Schenk von Schmidtburg
Acquired by Schenk von Schmidtburg at the end of the 18th century, who undertook repairs on the declining castle.
From the archive
Bourscheid Castle on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
Château de Bourscheid
· National Museum of Archaeology, History and Art (via Europeana)
Public domain
Château de Bourscheid
· National Museum of Archaeology, History and Art (via Europeana)
Public domain
Château de Bourscheid
· National Museum of Archaeology, History and Art (via Europeana)
Public domain
