Ruine Grünenberg

About this place

Here you’ll find Ruine Grünenberg on Schlossberg in Melchnau, in the Oberaargau. The site lies in Canton Bern and was once a hill castle. The castle was the ancestral seat of the Freiherren von Grünenberg. It was built in stone in the 12th century, on earlier wooden predecessors from the 11th century. Later it passed to the city of Bern, which set up a small bailiwick there for a few years. From the 16th century onwards, the site fell into ruin. The masonry was used as a quarry, and the keep is said to have been blown up in the 19th century.