Bruch, Germany
14th century
Kirchberg (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany
14th century
Frankenstein, Germany
13th century
Dhronecken, Germany
13th century
Annweiler, Germany
12th century
Trippstadt, Germany
12th century
Wissen, Germany
13th century
Dasburg, Germany
9th century AD
Freudenburg, Germany
1330-1337
Altleiningen, Germany
1100-1110
Katzenelnbogen, Germany
c. 1095
Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany
c. 787 AD
Kempfeld, Germany
14th century
Lauterecken-Wolfstein, Germany
13th century
Lambrecht, Germany
11th century
Kaiserslautern, Germany
12th century
Laurenburg, Germany
11th century
Thaleischweiler-Fröschen, Germany
c. 1100
Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, Germany
14th century
Palatinate Forest, Germany
13th century
The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.
The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.