The ruins of Dudelange Castle are located on Mont St Jean

Mont St. Jean, Luxembourg

Mont St. Jean is a hill, castle, and religious site in the commune of Dudelange, in southern Luxembourg. The summit is at .Mont St. Jean has probably been a point of religious interest since pre-Christian times. The annual pilgrimage to St. John's Chapel, on the summit, on St. John's Eve was...

, a forested hill to the west of Dudelange

Dudelange

Dudelange is a commune with city status in southern Luxembourg. It is the fourth-most populous commune, with over 18,300 inhabitants. Dudelange is situated close to the border to France....

 in the south of Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

. The castle was completed in the early 16th century but was destroyed in 1552.

History

While the site of the ruins bears traces of Gallo-Roman structures, the first evidence of a castle in the area is in Dudelange itself where a castle belonging to the Lords of Gymnich was destroyed around 1400 by Robert de Bar. At the beginning of the 15th century, work began on building a fortified castle which was completed early in the 16th century with Gothic and Renaissance influences. The finely cut stones and sculptures show how much the lords of Gynmich, Boulay, Neufchâtel, Hunolstein and Isembourg invested in their luxurious fortress. However from 1542 the castle was taken and retaken when Francis I

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

 and Henry II

Henry II of France

Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...

 of France were at war with Emperor Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

. In 1552, the castle was destroyed and deprived of any strategic value. Thereafter the ruins were used as a quarry for the surrounding villages.

Since the 1970s, the Amis de l’Histoire de Dudelange et du Mont Saint-Jean (Friends of the History of Dudelange and Mont St. Jean) have explored the ruins, discovering the foundations of several towers, the palace, living quarters, stables and outhouses. Three wells and a reservoir were partly unearthed. The ditches and the entrance to the castle can still be seen.