Sourtelari Castle

The modified name of the settlement of Curtelari (Curtis Alerici) is first found in sources in 968 as part of the Abbey of Mütier-Granval. The Courtelari variant was approved by Pope Alexander III in 1179. The castle in Kurtelari (New Castle) was built in the village in 1606, two years after the establishment of the court - the self-governing body of the surrounding regions, and the building became the residence of the administrative bodies of the settlements of the valley (governors of Erguel). During the Thirty Years' War, in 1639, the village and castle of Kultelari were ravaged and partially burned by the troops of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar.

Another turning point in the fate of Kurtelari Castle was the time of the unification of the vast land holdings by the Prince-Bishop of Basel Johann Konrad von Reinach-Hizbach (since 1726). In 1733, a revolt broke out in Courtelari Castle against the new rulers who tried to replace local traditions, customs and laws with centralized rules consistent with the views of enlightened absolutism.