Diemerstein Forest (german: Diemersteiner Wald) is a part of the Palatine Forest, a mountainous region within the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. It has an area of about 50 km².

Geography

The Diemerstein Forest lies in the north of the Palatine Forest, north of the hamlet of Diemerstein, which belongs to the municipality of

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

( Enkenbach-Alsenborn collective municipality, Kaiserslautern district). The Autobahn 6 motorway from

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

runs for just under 10 km through the northern part of the forest, reaching its highest point at 403 metres above sea level (NN) for this section. The forest is bounded roughly by the B 37 federal highway from

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

Bad Dürkheim Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, and is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Bad Dürkheim lies at the edge of Palatinate Forest on the German Wine ...

in the south, by the B 48 from

Rockenhausen Rockenhausen is a town in the Donnersbergkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Alsenz, approx. north of Kaiserslautern. Rockenhausen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Nordpfälzer ...

Annweiler Annweiler am Trifels (), or Annweiler is a town in the Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Queich, 12 km west of Landau. Annweiler am Trifels station is on the Landau–Saarbrücken ...

in the west and by the ''

Landesstraße ''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'') are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are roads t ...

395'' state road, that links

Enkenbach-Alsenborn Enkenbach-Alsenborn is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the northern edge of the Palatinate forest, approx. 10 km north-east of Kaiserslautern. Enkenbach-Alsenborn is also ...

and

Grünstadt Grünstadt ( pfl, Grinnschdadt) is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with roughly 13,200 inhabitants. It does not belong to any ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – a kind of collective municipality – but is nonetheless t ...

, in the north. In the east near

Carlsberg Carlsberg may refer to: Places * Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark ** Carlsberg station, its train station * Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses * Carlsbe ...

the Diemerstein Forest has not visible boundary with other parts of the Palatine Forest. The settlements of Hochspeyer in the southwest, Enkenbach-Alsenborn in the northwest and Carlsberg in the northeast form a triangle that roughly encloses the Diemerstein Forest. Elevations generally range between 300 and 450 metres. Amongst the most important hills are the Kieskautberg (461 m), the Krummes Eck (449 m) and die Hohe Bühl (443 m), on which are the sources of both the Eisbach (north flank) and the

Isenach The Isenach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the northeastern Palatine region of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is nearly long. Course The Isenach rises in the northern Palatinate Forest, southwest of Carlsberg Hertlingshausen. Its source in ...

(south flank). The

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

between the northern

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

of the Eisbach und Eckbach and the southern catchment of the Isenach und

Speyerbach The Speyerbach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the Palatinate part of Rhineland-Palatinate. In Speyer, the river split into ''Gießhübelbach'' and ''Woogbach''. The Woogbach changes its name to ''Nonnenbach'', then flows into Gießhübe ...

(

Hochspeyerbach The Hochspeyerbach is a long river in the Palatinate forest in Rhineland-Palatinate and a left tributary of the Speyerbach. Course The Hochspeyerbach rises in the municipality Hochspeyer in the immediate vicinity of the swimming pool. In ea ...

) runs over the Krummes Eck in the west via the Hohe Bühl in the north and the Kieskautberg in the east.

History

Above the hamlet of Diemerstein lie the ruins of the eponymous

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

, which is first recorded in 1216. In 1521, during

the Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

period, the knight

Ulrich von Hutten Ulrich von Hutten (21 April 1488 – 29 August 1523) was a German knight, scholar, poet and satirist, who later became a follower of Martin Luther and a Protestant reformer. By 1519, he was an outspoken critic of the Roman Catholic Church. Hutte ...

lived here. The present Diemerstein Forest is, in large part, identical with the forest estate of the ords of the castle and hence bore their name.

External links

Diemerstein Castle
{{coord, 49.467, 7.977, type:forest_region:DE_dim:20000, display=title Forests and woodlands of Rhineland-Palatinate Landscapes of Rhineland-Palatinate Natural regions of the Palatinate Forest