The construction of Rietburg castle is dated to the period 1200 to 1204 and ascribed to the lords of Riet. These noblemen were initially vassals of the North Alsatian Benedictine abbey of Weißenburg, later they became ministeriales and feudatories of the then German Hohenstaufen lords.
In 1470, during the Weißenburg Feud between Prince-Elector Frederick the Victorious of the Palatinate and his cousin, Duke Louis the Black of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, the Rietburg was shelled by Leiningen troops and badly damaged, but remained inhabitable. The castle survived the Palatine Peasants' War of 1525 unscathed, but was finally destroyed during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48) and never rebuilt.
Since 1954, a chair lift, known as the Rietburgbahn has run from the Rhine Plain up to a terrace on the eastern side of the Rietburg. The return journey offers good views over the plain. The bottom station is accessible on foot or by car and is located near the schloss of Villa Ludwigshöhe, a stately residence built from 1846 to 1852 by order of Louis I of Bavaria.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.