Splügen Castle (Ruin)

The ruin of the former Splügen Castle is located east of the village of Splügen in Rheinwald in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. It is the only castle complex in the valley.

The ruin lies just under a kilometer east of the village on a small hill below the former valley road, which led from the Via Mala over the Splügen and San Bernardino passes. It is easily accessible from the village in ten minutes on foot via a small road. Access by car is not possible.

Visible are the ruins of a fortified two-part palas and a curtain wall on the north side, facing the former road. The walls, well over a meter thick, are still preserved on three sides; the east side, facing down the valley, has collapsed. The cornerstones show clear edge dressing. A still partially recognizable wall divided the complex into an eastern and a western half.

The high entrance with a Gothic pointed arch portal with tuff jamb stones is about four meters high on the north side and led to the first floor. Beam holes on the outside show how access was gained. The door leaves rotated in a carefully carved stone ring and could be secured with a beam.

The lower two floors contained cellar and storage rooms, which were only illuminated by narrow window slits. The living quarters were located in the western room of the third floor, as can be seen from the partially heavily weathered remains of windows with seat niches and fireplaces. An exit led to a small balcony or latrine bay. Nothing is known about the roof shape. The kitchen was in the eastern, less lit part.

The northern curtain wall is filled with rubble. It is conceivable that stables and outbuildings stood there. An outer gate was probably located in the vanished eastern part of the wall.

Traces of a Letzi (defensive wall) can be found upstream in the area of the old road.

In terms of building type, Splügen Castle, with its door and window forms and tuff jamb stones, fits well into the second half of the 13th century. A construction period around 1275 is conceivable. At that time, the Rheinwald valley belonged to the county of Schams, which was held as a fief of the Diocese of Chur by the Barons of Vaz and later by the Counts of Werdenberg. The Barons of Sax-Misox tried to expand their rule from Misox over the San Bernardino by settling Walsers. In 1274, they issued a letter of protection to a group of Walsers in Mesocco.

The appearance of Walsers on the border of their dominion must have alarmed the Barons of Vaz, as they, in turn, were also trying to expand their dominion into the sparsely populated valleys. In 1277, the Walsers came under the protection of the Vaz. From this, it can be assumed that Splügen Castle, together with the Letzi, was built around 1275 by the Barons of Vaz to curb the advance of the Misoxers. The Walsers probably felt safer under the rule of the House of Vaz than under the Baron of Sax-Misox, who resided beyond the pass.

With the repulsion of the Misoxer advance and the expansion of the Walser colony, Splügen Castle lost its strategic importance. The meager source material also suggests a short period of use. Already in 1308, a sales letter only mentions a castle site and a farmstead: "to the castle site with its customary farmstead".

At the beginning of the 14th century, the castle was apparently already in ruins. In 1462, Jörg von Werdenberg sold a rent "from the property near the castle" to the Rheinwald Amman, which probably also referred to the former Splügen Castle. Whether the castle still stood is not mentioned.

When Jörg von Werdenberg sold the Rheinwald in 1493 to the Milanese commander Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, Lord of Sax-Misox, Splügen Castle is no longer mentioned.