No. 30869
Jörgenberg Castle
Switzerland
CastleRuin9th century
No. 37460
No. 37460 · 46.748 N, 9.046 E
Quick summary
Burg Saxenstein is a castle in Switzerland, listed as reference No. 37460.
Burg Saxenstein is a castle in Switzerland with origins associated with the 15th century.
See all castles in SwitzerlandBurg Saxenstein was erected in the early thirteenth century as the residence and local office of ministerial officials serving the barons of Rhäzüns. The compact rectangular keep and its siting on a defended hilltop point to a construction phase around the early 1200s. The castle is understood as the dwelling of legally dependent ministerials who acted for Rhäzüns authority at a time when German-speaking settlers were moving into an area with established Rhaeto-Romanic communities and existing fortifications.
Documentary references to Saxenstein appear only in the fifteenth century: the estate is recorded as hoff Saxenstein in a 1468 inheritance regulation and is mentioned again on 11 July 1470. Local naming patterns suggest the castle name derives from a settler family name, Sax, with Saxenstein meaning the stone or castle of the Sax.
The precise moment of abandonment is not recorded. The site seems to have been discontinued when Walser settlers in the area were granted low jurisdiction, a change that eliminated the need for Rhäzüns ministerial representatives and led to the withdrawal of their local offices.
Condition
The ruin occupies a small hill west of the hamlet of Axastein at about 1,014 metres above sea level. A broad ditch separates the hilltop from the slope, underlining the defensive placement of the buildings, and surviving ground features mark the former plan with the main defensive elements clustered on the summit.
The dominant surviving structure is a substantial rectangular keep, roughly nine by eight metres at ground plan. The walls are built in layered masonry with projecting stones and neatly cut corner blocks, and they measure about 1.6 to 2.4 metres in thickness. Three floors are evident; the entrance is set on the second floor on the north, valley-facing side in a round-arched opening. At a western break in the masonry the second floor retains the jamb of a window and the third floor shows an indeterminate opening. At the foot of the hill are fragments of a surrounding enclosure wall that mark the former circuit of the site. These remains survive as fragmentary ruins.
Location
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