The Hohenburg, also called Homburg Castle or Fortress Hohenburg, is a ruined castle located Homburg in the

Saarpfalz Saarpfalz (''Saar-Palatinate'') is a Kreis (district) in the south-east of the Saarland, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Saarbrücken, Neunkirchen, Kusel, Kaiserslautern, Südwestpfalz, district-free Zweibrücken, and the ...

district in

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

, Germany. It stands atop the -high Schlossberg above the Schlossberg Caves (''Schlossberghöhlen''). In the 12th century the castle was the seat of the counts of Homburg. In 1330 the received city rights (''Stadtrechte'') for their village at the foot of Schlossberg from the Emperor

Ludwig the Bavarian Louis IV (german: Ludwig; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328. Louis' election as king of Germany in ...

. After the death of the last Count of Homburg in 1449 castle and city fell to the counts of Nassau-Saarbrücken. They rebuilt the castle in the second half of the 16th century into a

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

palace, and then to a fortress. In the 1600s King

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

and his master builder

Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Seigneur de Vauban, later Marquis de Vauban (baptised 15 May 163330 March 1707), commonly referred to as ''Vauban'' (), was a French military engineer who worked under Louis XIV. He is generally considered the ...

expanded the fort and fortified the city. The basic structure of Homburg's old town dates back to this time. The fortifications were first demolished in 1697, and finally in 1714 when they served as a quarry for the construction of

Karlsberg Castle Karlsberg Castle (german: Schloss Karlsberg) is a castle ruin on Buchenberg east of Homburg in Saarland, Germany. The castle was constructed from 1778 to 1788 in Baroque and Classical style by Johann Christian von Mannlich, architect and general ...

. From 1981 the ruins were excavated and partially restored.

Publications

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External links

* * {{cite web , title=Schlossberghöhlen und Ruinen der Hohenburg at archive.org , url=http://www.rendezvous-saarblies.com/saarblies/3583.htm , website=saarblies.com , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120043506/http://www.rendezvous-saarblies.com/saarblies/3583.htm , accessdate=July 21, 2018, archive-date=2008-11-20 Buildings and structures in Saarpfalz-Kreis Ruined castles in Germany Demolished buildings and structures in Germany