Mariastein Abbey

The Château de Landskron (or Landskron Castle) is situated in the southern part of Alsace, in the east of France, mere footsteps away from Switzerland, in the commune of Leymen. The village situated at the north of the ruin, Leymen, in the département of Haut-Rhin, lies in France while Flüh, at the south east foot of the ruin, is in Switzerland. The castle was built before 1297. It had a very important strategic position in that it allowed the control of the Eastern Sundgau, the elbow of the Rhine and the city of Basel. Several disputes concerning the ownership have been reported. Like the Château de Ferrette and Château de Morimont, the Château de Landskron was owned by Habsburg for a time. In 1462, the castle was given to the Lord of the Bailiwick of Lupfen, Sébastien de Reichenstein, who later enlarged and transformed the castle to adapt it to firearms in 1516. In 1648, by the Peace of Westphalia which ended the Thirty Years' War, the lands and lordships of the Habsburgs in Alsace, including the Château de Landskron, passed into the hands of the King of France. After 1665, Vauban was responsible for rebuilding the castle into a military garrison, while many other Alsatian castles were abandoned and gradually destroyed. In the 1690s, it was used as a state prison. The few prisoners who were imprisoned there until the French Revolution were predominantly political prisoners and the mentally ill. Bernard Duvergez, a courtier at the French court, was held there from 1769 until 1790 when he was discovered by revolutionaries looking for political prisoners. He died while waiting for them to find him a better place. He is the subject of a local novel, The Prisoner of Landskron The castle survived the Revolution, whereas the houses of the wealthy in Leyman were burned. The castle was destroyed in 1813 by the Austrian and the Bavarian armies fighting Napoléon Bonaparte. After that time it was a ruin. In the 1970s, the former owners installed a colony of monkeys into the ruins. Since 1984, the castle has belonged to the Association pour la Sauvegarde du Château de Landskron (Association for the Protection of Landskron Castle) and was partly restored in 1996. Further restoration work is planned. One of the main characteristics of the castle is its big rectangular tower or keep. The Château de Landskron has been classed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1923.

Leymen (French pronunciation: ​[laimən]; German: Leimen) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. The commune is served by Leymen station, on line 10 of the Basel tramway between Rodersdorf and Flüh, and until December 2017 was the only such station to be located on French soil.

Hofstetten-Flüh (Swiss German: Hufstette-Flüe) is a municipality in the district of Dorneck in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

Witterswil (Swiss German: Witterschwyl) is a municipality in the district of Dorneck in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

Metzerlen-Mariastein is a municipality in the district of Dorneck in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. The present name of the municipality dates from 2003, it being previously known as Metzerlen. The nearby Benedictine Mariastein Abbey is an important place of pilgrimage.

Bättwil is a municipality in the district of Dorneck in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

Biel-Benken (Swiss German: Biel-Bängge) is a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.

Blauen is a municipality in the district of Laufen in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.

Chall Pass (or Challpass) (el. 747 m.) is a mountain pass in the Jura Mountains on the border of the cantons of Solothurn and Basel-Country in Switzerland. The pass road links Metzerlen and Röschenz or Laufen on the Swiss common main road number 274. The pass got his name from the mountain Challhöchi; chall is Swiss German for the German word kahl (in the meaning of bare, without forest); Höchi Swiss German for Höhe (height).

Rodersdorf is a municipality in the district of Dorneck in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland, on the border to Alsace, France.

Liebenswiller (French pronunciation: [libənsvilɛʁ]; Alemannic German: Liebedswìller; German: Liebensweiler) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It is located close to the border with Switzerland, near the Swiss village of Rodersdorf.

Biederthal (Alemannic German: Bierthel) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It is located on the border with Switzerland, next to the Swiss villages of Rodersdorf and Metzerlen-Mariastein.