Campell castle ruins

The name of the farm and castle comes from a Rhaeto-Romanic field name. It means "beautiful field"; Campi is a dialectal variation. The first owner of Campell was the family who named themselves after the farm of Campell.

In 1289, Egeno de Campello appears in an episcopal revenue register. He paid an ecclesiastical tax of 15 shillings to the parish of Hoch Rialt for estates in Portein and Dalin. In the late 14th century, the lords of Campell had already moved away or died out.

Between the 14th century and the 18th century, the ruins of Campell passed from episcopal ownership to various other owners. In 1710, Commissari Silvester Rosenroll of Thusis took over "all the goods and buildings in the Campell estate by name" from the heirs of Margaretha von Schauenstein for 1,050 Rhenish guilders.

Architectural monument of national importance

The castle remained uninhabited and began to decay. Campell was inherited by the von Salis Sils family from the Rosenrolls, who in 1796 exchanged "the castle and estates situated in the Campell Silser territorio" with the scribe Thomas Heinz from Sils for estates in Flerden. In 1928, the Heinz family sold the ruins to Dr Rudolf Campell in Pontresina. His son Dr Chasper Campell transferred the ruin to the Campell/Campi Ruin Foundation in 1987. In 1993, 1996 and 1998, the site was conserved according to the latest findings following a prior building survey and documentation carried out by the Archaeological Service and the Cantonal Monument Preservation Office. The Campell ruins are a listed building of national importance.

Access

Campi is located at the entrance to the Schinschlucht gorge and is open to the public. Accessible on foot in approx. 30 minutes from the Domleschg castle trail.