Ruppertstein Castle (german: Burg Ruppertstein) is the
ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
of a
hill castle
A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles ...
located at an elevation of near the village of
Lemberg
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...
in the
collective municipality
A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns.
Rhineland- ...
of
Pirmasens-Land in the county of
Südwestpfalz
Südwestpfalz is a district (''Kreis'' or more precise ''Landkreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Saarpfalz, the district-free city Zweibrücken, the districts Kaiserslautern and Ba ...
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 ...
. It is situated on top of the Ruppertstein hill south of the village of
Ruppertsweiler.
History
Little is known of the castle, which was probably built in the 13th century. Its history began in 1198 with the purchase by
Henry I, Count of Zweibrücken Henry I of Zweibrücken (german: Heinrich I. von Zweibrücken, ?–1222) was the first count of the County of Zweibrücken founded in 1182 as the result of an inheritance division. He ruled until 1222.
Life
Henry was the younger of two sons of th ...
, of the hill on which it was built. It was either destroyed in 1525 during the
Palatine Peasants' War
The Palatine Peasants' War (german: pfälzische Bauernkrieg) was part of the general German Peasants' War on the Middle and Upper Rhine. The uprising in the Palatine Electorate and its surrounding area took place in April to June 1525.
History ...
or had been allowed to fall into ruins by then.
Around 1900 a stone stairway was built on the rocks in order to reach the terrace of the rock on which the castle stood, in order to use it as a
viewing point
A scenic viewpoint – also called an observation point, viewpoint, viewing point, vista point, lookout, scenic overlook,These terms are more commonly used in North America. etc. – is an elevated location where people can view scenery (often w ...
. This stone stairway was refurbished in 2007 by the Pirmasens-Land municipal authorities.
[Information board at the castle] A wooden stairway may originally have been used to access the castle.
References
Literature
* {{citation, surname1=Marco Bollheimer, title=Felsenburgen im Burgenparadies Wasgau–Nordvogesen , edition=3., publisher=Selbstverlag, publication-place=Karlsruhe, pages=52 f, isbn=978-3-9814506-0-6, date= 2011, language=German
* Emil Heuser: ''Neuer Pfalzführer''. Ludwigshafen am Rhein, 1951
External links
Ruppertstein Castle at Burg-Lemberg.de
Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate
Buildings and structures in Südwestpfalz