Ruina Da Guardaval

Madulain, Switzerland, Switzerland

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Ruina Da Guardaval, known as Guardaval Castle ruins, is a 13th-century medieval fortress on a rocky hill west of Madulain village in the Upper Engadine valley of Graubünden canton, Switzerland, built around 1250 by Bishop Volkard von Neuenburg to administer the Bishop of Chur's estates and collect tolls along the Albula Pass road.

The complex originally featured a main tower with visible medieval plaster and trowel marks, a curtain wall, gatehouse, zwinger, and residential wing, later granted to the Planta family in the 14th century who held it as a fief amid regional power struggles.

Abandoned by 1500 after pledging to the League of God's House, the ruins were stabilized in 1935 following a brief stint as a restaurant, and now offer hikers a short trail from the train station with panoramic Engadin views as a Swiss heritage site.