At the end of the 18th century, thanks to Romanticism, interest in the mysterious ruins of Haut-Kœnigsbourg was reborn. Attracted by the dark forests and the vestiges covered with ivy, the first hikers also came to admire the view on the Vosges and the Alsace plain. For the Hohenzollerns, Haut-Kœnigsbourg represented a political symbol: the western boundary of the Holy Roman Empire of which they claimed to be followers. Wilhelm II launched renovations of the castle in 1900. A vast cellar, the width of the rocky outcrop, was discovered. In the Middle Ages, it served to store food. The keep is now higher than at the end of the 16th century, 203 ft against 46 (62 m against 14).