Balm Ruins: A Medieval Cave Stronghold in Switzerland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Switzerland
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Balm ruins are the remains of a cave stronghold at Balm bei Günsberg in Switzerland, built for the noble free lords of Balm in the mid-eleventh century. Set at the foot of Balmfluh, the castle is the only cave stronghold in the Canton of Solothurn and one of the few in Switzerland. Its age makes it one of the oldest castle complexes in the canton.
Prehistoric and medieval origins
Excavations in 1939 and 1941 show that the site had already been used as a settlement during the Azilian period, a prehistoric phase of western Europe associated with hunter-gatherer communities. The medieval castle was probably built in the middle of the eleventh century. Its earliest surviving documentary mention dates from 1201.
The probable builders were the noble free lords of Balm. Fridericus of the Hüli and his son Guntram appear in the Flumenthal necrology, probably compiled in the twelfth century, while Burkart of Balm is documented around 1200. Balm became the center of a small clearing lordship, a lordship organized around land cleared for settlement and farming. In the Late Middle Ages, this territory was approximately coextensive with the later municipality of Balm.
Feudal changes and decline
The Lords of Balm moved relatively early from their ancestral cave castle to a new seat at Altbüron. Balm was then granted to a fief-holder, meaning a vassal who received a lordship or property in return for obligations. This change helped spare the older stronghold from the destruction that struck the Altbüron seat in 1308, when Duke Leopold, a Habsburg duke, destroyed it after Rudolf II of Balm had been implicated in the murder of King Albert, Albert I, the German king and ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.
After Altbüron was destroyed, the lordship reverted to the Empire and passed to the Count of Strassberg. In 1320, the count pawned it to the Solothurn knight Pantaleon of Gebstrasse. The lordship and castle came into the possession of Count Rudolf of Neuenburg-Nidau in 1327. Rudolf died while fighting the Guglers, a fourteenth-century mercenary army active in regional conflicts. His heirs sold Balm Castle in 1374 to the Solothurn merchant family of Peter Schriber, bringing the castle’s main feudal period to an end.
Arnold Bumann, an heir of the Schriber family, sold the castle to the city of Solothurn in 1411. The purchase considerably extended the city’s sphere of power. The castle was already neglected around 1400. Around 1417, Solothurn granted Balm to Hans Sigrist of Naters in return for an annual payment and required him to undertake thorough structural repairs. He did not meet this obligation, or fulfilled it only inadequately. Finds indicate occupation until about 1450, but the castle became a ruin from the middle of the fifteenth century, and local farmers sometimes quarried its materials.
Excavation and conservation
The Historical Society of the Canton of Solothurn acquired the ruin in 1939 and organized extensive excavation and stabilization work between 1939 and 1941. In 1969, it transferred the ruin to the Canton of Solothurn, while the Balm Castle Association was founded to care for the site. Balm ruins are recognized as a Swiss cultural property of national significance.
Remains
Balm ruins occupy a natural cave about 20 metres above the ground within Balmfluh, an almost 100-metre-high rock wall forming the southeastern ridge of Balmfluechöpfli on the Weissenstein. The cave is approximately 20 metres wide and 6 metres deep. The surviving remains combine a fortified cave dwelling with later construction in the forecourt, while the approach follows a steep route partly built against and partly cut into the rock.
The cave stronghold
The outer wall was approximately 2.4 metres thick and contained two door openings and narrow windows. A lining wall stood against the wet rock face, protecting the structure from moisture. The original core of the stronghold was a simple two-storey timber building. Holes for inserted beams provide evidence of its construction. Restoration changed the form of the wall openings visible today, and the core stronghold survives in ruinous condition.
Forecourt and approach
A later phase added an inhabited fortified house in the forecourt. It measured 29 metres in length and 3.5 metres internally. A substantial rectangular masonry structure leaning against the rock face survives from this complex and was probably the defensive enclosing wall of an agricultural building group.
Access to the core stronghold originally followed a long ascent that was partly walled and partly cut into the rock before continuing across a rock ramp. The connection between the forecourt and the core stronghold is partially reconstructable. The ascent visible today is modern and follows the original route only in part.
