After Alsace's annexation within Germany in 1871, the city of Sélestat offered the ruins of the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle to Emperor Wilhelm II in 1899. The Kaiser praised a fortress whose stones have been proclaiming, since immemorial times, the magnificence of German chivalry ”. He wanted to legitimize his dynasty by connecting it to the Middle Ages and used the Haut-Koenigsbourg as a showcase. The architect of the renovation, Bodo Ebhardt, aimed to remain as faithful as possible to the 15th-century version of the castle. He compared the site with others with the same characteristics, such as the mountain fortress of Hammerstein, dating from the late Germanic Middle Ages.