Altdahn Castle

Altdahn Castle (German: Burg Altdahn) is a castle ruin in the Palatinate Forest, the German part of the Wasgau region. It is located near the town of Dahn in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It stands 337 metres (1,106 ft) above sea level (NN).

The rock castle of Altdahn belongs to the group of castles at Dahn, which also includes Grafendahn and Tanstein. Although the three castles are sited next to one another on a low, rocky ridge, they were not built at the same time. A similar type of castle arrangement is also found e. g. in the nearby French Vosges in the upper Alsace where there is a cluster of three castles at Husseren-les-Châteaux.

Other sights nearby include the castle of Neudahn and the natural rock formation of Jungfernsprung.

Altdahn was probably built in the early 13th century. Certainly in 1236 the castle was being run by Frederick of Dahn as a vassal (Lehnsmann) of the Bishop of Speyer who, at that time, was Conrad IV of Dahn and may well have been a relative. The subsequent history of the castle is characterized by many wars and frequent destruction, that was, time and again, followed by rebuilding.

Altdahn was first destroyed in 1363 in the course of a feud between the Dahns and the Fleckensteins. In the end a squire took possession of the castle and carried out temporary repairs. In 1372 it was destroyed again and the squire driven out. In 1406 the castle was destroyed in the War of the Four Lords, which played out from 1405 to 1408 especially in the Bliesgau, 40 kilometres to the west. In 1426 and 1438 the castle caught fire without being caused by any military action.

After two centuries of relative prosperity Altdahn suffered further damage during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48). And right at the start of the War of the Palatine Succession the castle was finally destroyed in 1689 by French troops under General Mélac.

On 11 May 1820 a rockfall occurred, that caused the majority of the remaining ruins to collapse.

Mendelssohn, the composer and artist, visited the ruins on 5 August 1844 in order to paint them. The originals are in Oxford, but copies may be seen in the museum, as can a medieval silver spoon engraved with the coat of arms of the lords of Dahn.

Text adapted from “Altdahn Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Altdahn Castle ranks #3,451 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #270 of the 505 mapped in Germany. Founded 1200, it is older than 77% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 563 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,335 times in the last 60 days, more than 56% of the atlas. 28 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Kaiserslautern, 33 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗