Heidenberg Castle (Ruin) (Obersaxen)

The ruins of Heidenberg Castle are located in the municipality of Obersaxen in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.

The sparse remains of Heidenberg Castle lie on a mighty rock outcrop directly above the village of Tavanasa. Access is from the quarry above Tavanasa, steeply uphill through impassable rockfall terrain. The rock outcrop can be reached from the east after about half an hour.

A connection with the word "Heide" as a landscape designation is out of the question due to the castle's location on steep terrain. Rather, a connection with the word "Heide" for "the unbaptized" or its adjective meaning "pre-Christian" or "ancient" is to be assumed. It is conceivable that the immigrating Walser people called the decaying masonry by this name. Whether they understood "-berg" as a synonym for "-burg" or whether they referred to the rock mass on which the ruin stands by this name is unclear.

The remains of a tower with an irregular quadrilateral floor plan have been preserved; the wall thickness is approximately 1.7 meters. From the tower, the heavily overgrown remains of a curtain wall branch off in a south-westerly direction, following the southern edge of the rock. Other barely recognizable traces of walls lead to the northern rock face. Other traces of walls or buildings are missing.

Written documents about the origin and history of the castle are missing. Based on the discovered wall remains, a period of origin in the 11th or 12th century can be assumed. The lack of written sources could indicate that the castle was already abandoned in the course of the 13th century and/or was only used temporarily.