Heinzenberg Castle
Heinzenberg Castle
Heinzenberg Castle is a ruined hill castle in the municipality of Cazis, near Präz, in the Viamala Region of the Swiss canton of Graubünden.
Built around 1200 by the Freiherr von Vaz, it was the political and judicial center of much of the Domleschg Valley. The first written record of the castle is from 1394, and by 1380 the name had come to refer to the river and the valley as well. The Vaz family’s power in the area ended in 1337–38. After their extinction, the castle passed to Count Rudolph IV von Werdenberg-Sargans through Ursula von Vatz’s dowry, then in 1383 his son Johann sold it to Ulrich Bran von Rhäzüns. In 1450 there was an inheritance dispute in the Rhäzüns family, and the imperial court awarded Heinzenberg to Ursula von Hohenberg. The castle was damaged in 1451–52 during fighting in the nearby Schams region. In 1461 it returned to the Werdenberg-Sargans family. In 1475 the Heinzenberg lands (except the castle) were sold to the Bishop of Chur. In 1482 a Werdenberg vogt resided there. After the death of Count Georg von Werdenberg-Sargans in 1504, the castle was abandoned and fell into ruin.
The castle sits on a narrow, rocky outcrop below the village of Präz, on the slopes above the valley. A ditch protects the flat side of the outcrop. The tower has a pentagon-shaped floor plan and is today about three stories tall; before a partial collapse in 1956 it stood six stories high with battlements and a wooden roof. A second building phase added a ring wall around the tower, of which the west part still stands. The remains of a southern wall show that a several-story residence probably stood there.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:56 (CET).