Murrmirnichtviel Lodge (german: Schloss Murrmirnichtviel), alternatively spelt ''Murr-mir-nicht-viel'', occasionally ''Murmel-nicht-viel'', is a ruined
hunting lodge with a
watchtower
A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...
that used to belong to the
counts of Leiningen
The House of Leiningen is the name of an old German noble family whose lands lay principally in Alsace, Lorraine, Saarland, Rhineland, and the Palatinate. Various branches of this family developed over the centuries and ruled counties with Impe ...
. It lies in the
Palatine Forest southwest of the county town of
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 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 ...
.
History
Roman graves have been discovered in the vicinity of the ruins that go back to a Roman wayside station established at this spot. In 1534 a watchtower was first mentioned in the recorded and referred to as ''die Klause'', i.e. a narrow, primitive dwelling. It was destroyed in the
Thirty Years' War.
The tower - and also the hunting lodge of
Kehrdichannichts
Kehrdichannichts Lodge (german: Schloss Kehrdichannichts or ''Kehr-dich-an-nichts'') is a former hunting lodge in the Palatine Forest west of Bad Dürkheim in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It belonged to the Leiningen counts.
Hist ...
only 600 metres away - were probably built by
John Frederick of Leiningen (1661–1722) initially to guard the boundary of the hunting grounds between Leiningen and
Electoral Palatinate, and then later expanded into a small
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
hunting lodge. They lie fairly high up on the southwestern ridge of the ''Dreispitz''; and enabled good observation of the hunting activities of their neighbours from Electoral Palatinate.
They must have been either destroyed again or neglected, however, soon afterwards because by 1781 the hunting lodge and watchtower were recorded in a ''Salbuch'' as the "Friedrichsburg ruins". By no later than 1793, when the
French Revolution had enveloped the
German regions west of the Rhine, the site was finally razed. A 1797 map first records its new name.
In 1926 the walls were still five metres high. In 1963 the ruins were transferred from the oversight of the old
royal Bavarian forestry commission to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In 1988/89 the wall remnants, which only comprised parts of the exterior wall with window openings, and the base of the tower, were cleared of vegetation and debris and made safe.
Name
The name ''Murrmirnichtviel'' is based on that of the hunting lodge of Kehrdichannichts and may have been derived from a local nickname. It may refer to the disputes between Leiningen and Electoral Palatinate over the boundaries of the hunting estates; ''Murr mir nicht viel!'' being intended as a threat or warning and meaning something like "do not grumble much at me (about the ban on entering my hunting estate)!"
Literature
*
Magnus Backes, Heinz Straeter: ''Staatliche Burgen, Schlösser und Altertümer in Rheinland-Pfalz''. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg, 2003, .
* Walter Eitelmann: ''Rittersteine im Pfälzerwald''. 4th edn. Pfälzerwald-Verein, Neustadt/Weinstraße, 1998, .
* Günter Stein: ''Burgen und Schlösser in der Pfalz''. Weidlich, Frankfurt/Main, 1976, .
{{Coord, 49.4425, N, 8.0943, E, type:landmark_region:DE-RP, display=title, format=dms
Buildings and structures in Rhineland-Palatinate
Hunting lodges in Germany
Heritage sites in Rhineland-Palatinate
Ruins in Germany