The Teufelsburg is a castle ruin in Felsberg in the community of

Überherrn Überherrn is a municipality in the district of Saarlouis, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated along the river Bist on the border with France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western ...

, Saarland, Germany. The historical name of the castle is Neu-Felsberg.

Location

The Teufelsburg castle ruin lies to the west of

Saarlouis Saarlouis (; french: link=no, Sarrelouis, ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis, as the name implies, is located on t ...

on the edge of the middle Saartal at a height of 320 m above Sea level. The castle is north of Felsberg and is easily reached from Upper Felsberg as well as via the ''Vauban-Steig'', a designated premium hiking path.Vauban-Steig
on the Webseite ''Deutsches Wanderinstitut e.V.'' The castle offers its visitors a sweeping overview of the Saartal and the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

History of the castle

Construction and destruction

Following the destruction of the Altenfelsberg Castle in 1341 by the electoral prince and archbishop Baldwin of Luxembourg, Duke Johann I of Lorraine built this spur castle from 1354 to 1360. The first documented reference to the castle as "Neufilsberg" (= Neu-Felsberg) dates to 1370, and the first knight of Neufelsberg Castle was Arnold von Filsberg - a grandson of Arnold von der Brücke, Lord of Siersburg and Felsberg. The final historical reference to the castle occurs in 1699 when it was already in ruins and no longer inhabited. The stones from the castle were used in 1680 by the French for the building of the fortified city of

Excavation and partial reconstruction

The ruins are made up of the remnants of two castles – an upper, older castle and a lower castle. Following a complete measurement of the castle grounds by Bernd Richter, a model of the lower castle was created that ultimately led to the site's excavation and the lower castle's rebuilding in 1968 according to the existing foundations with a restoration that lasted from 2009 to 2010. By contrast, after being plundered for stones in 1680, the upper castle was never restored.

Legend

The popular name Teufelsburg or "Devil's Castle" can be traced back to a local legend in which a knight of the castle made a pact with the devil to whom the knight sold his soul before engaging in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

. The sound of his screams as he entered

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

are still said to be heard today. Visitors to the castle can arrange for a tour of the small museum inside the castle which contains finds from the excavations. Since April 2007, the museum displays tools and utensils from the castle mountain's sandstone quarry as well as fossils and minerals from the Felsberg. Most visitors, however, are attracted to the sweeping panorama of

and the Saartal.

External links

Literature about the Teufelsburg
in the Bibliography of the Saarland. *

Sources

{{morecat, date=May 2024 Saarland