Germany · 12th century
Bosselstein Castle, also known as Stein Castle or Altes Schloss, is the ruin of a summit castle above the upper district of Oberstein in Idar-Oberstein in the district of Birkenfeld in the Hunsrück.
The castle sits on the Kirchenfelsen, a jagged rocky reef above the rock church, overlooking the valley of the Nahe and next to Oberstein Palace.
Bosselstein Castle was built in the 12th century by the Lords of Stein (Oberstein) and is first documented in 1197. From 1600 the castle was no longer inhabited, fell into decay, and came to Rhineland-Palatinate as a ruin in 1945. It is now the responsibility of the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage.
What survives of the castle complex is the stump of the round keep and remains of the great hall and the ring wall.
Machine-translated from “Burg Bosselstein” on the German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Burg Bosselstein ranks #7,492 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #667 of the 711 mapped in Germany. Founded c. 1150, it is older than 80% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 756 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Kaiserslautern, 43 km away. It is one of the 51 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Moselle. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.
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