Sprengelburg Castle

Sprengelburg is a ruined hill castle in the county of Kusel in Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies between the villages of Eßweiler and Oberweiler im Tal on the L 372 state road.

Base on what is left of the castle, the Sprengelburg may have been built in the 13th century. The castle was erected at the narrowest point of the Talbach valley and guarded the road that used to run below it in the valley bottom.

The castle lords were the knights of Mülenstein, vassals of the Rheingrafen family in Grumbach. Whether they had the castle built is unclear. The Mülenstein family is recorded from 1317 to 1451. The Lords of Mülenstein were robber knights and inflicted serious losses on the merchants using the road. Consequently, the castle was destroyed by Strasbourg merchants in retaliation for the raids. The exact date of its destruction is not known.

From 1976 onwards, excavations were carried out on the site by students of the University of Maryland under the direction of Professor Higel. The remains of the outer walls, a rectangle measuring 20 by 15 metres, and a round tower, 8 metres in diameter, were uncovered. In the summer of 1978, the skeleton of a woman was also discovered inside the castle. After the excavations were completed, reconstruction work was carried out, initiated by the Department of Monuments in Speyer. The outer walls and the tower were rebuilt, and a round-arched gate was inserted into the outer wall at the rear of the complex as the entrance. Some of the stones found during the excavation were used for this purpose. The modern ascent to the 8.5-metre-high tower, an iron spiral staircase, was added at that time. This leads to an observation deck, although the view from the deck through the surrounding forest is quite limited.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Lauterecken-Wolfstein, Germany

Details

Founded: 13th century
Category: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Hohenstaufen Dynasty (Germany)