Koerich Castle - Gréiweschlass

Koerich Castle - Gréiweschlass

Situated in the Goebelange brook valley, the castle of Koerich is a typical example of our lowland castles. With its impressive tower and its exterior walls arranged in an almost perfect square, it forms a remarkable unit with Koerich's baroque church and old houses. Wirich Ist, Lord of Koerich, Seneschal of the court of Luxembourg, started building the castle in the late 12th and early 13th Century. The tower - known as 'witches tower' - and the exterior walls are of late romanesque style. It has a 12 x 11.6 m base and a thickness of 3 to 3.5 meters, and -though currently only 11 metres high- its estimated original height of 25 to 30 metres made this one of the most imposing towers in our region. A reconstruction in the Gothic style took place in 1300.

Today, only the south-west tower remains. The chapel, dedicated to St Michael, is on the ground floor hence its name 'chapel tower'. A guards room was on the 1st floor.

In 1728, the southern wing was rebuilt in the Baroque style. After the 2nd half of the 18th Century, the chateau was no longer lived in, and hence -due to lack of maintenance- it eventually became uninhabitable. In the early 1950s the last owner, Mr P Flammang, undertook building works to safeguard the crumbling structures. Currently, the ruins are owned by the Luxembourg State.

(Ref: "Untersuchungen über zwei Burgen in Koerich" by R. Krantz and N. Quintus).