The castle of Neuscharfeneck is a ruin and a

cultural monument A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage regist ...

above Ramberg and Dernbach on the territory of an exclave of Flemlingen in the district of

Südliche Weinstraße Südliche Weinstraße ( pfl, Siedlischi Woischdrooß; en, "Southern Wine Route") is a district (''Kreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Südwestpfalz, Bad Dürkheim, the district-f ...

in the west German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Location

The ruins are situated in the eastern part of the Palatine Forest. They lie at an elevation of on the western foothills of the

Kalkofen Berg Kalkofen is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. References Donnersbergkreis {{Donnersbergkreis-geo-stub ...

in the middle of a forest and are only accessible over

forest track Forest tracks or forest roads are roads or tracks intended to carry motorised vehicles or horse-drawn wagons being used mainly or exclusively for forestry purposes, such as conservation or logging. Forest tracks may be open to ramblers or mountain ...

Layout

The first castle, dating to the 13th century, was considerably smaller than the present ruins. Of the Hochstaufen castle only a few remnants have survived. The entire site measures about . Its

shield wall A shield wall ( or in Old English, in Old Norse) is a military formation that was common in ancient and medieval warfare. There were many slight variations of this formation, but the common factor was soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder ...

, built from ca. 1212 to 1232 and extended in the years 1470 and 1530, is the mightiest in the Palatinate, with a length of and thickness of . Within the shield wall there are relatively few usable passages, chambers and

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...

s. It therefore acted - apart from the hoarding (''Plattform'') that has not survived - primarily as passive protection for the castle behind it. The original entrance was over a

drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable ...

through the shield wall into the castle. In the castle gardens, rare herbs such as White Henbane, ''Ingräu'' and Abbey Hysop were planted. There is still a partially surviving gateway with a

flanking tower A flanking tower is a fortified tower that is sited on the outside of a defensive wall or other fortified structure and thus forms a flank. From the defensive platform and embrasures the section of wall between them (the curtain wall) could be s ...

. Four water basins, chiselled out of the rock in the 13th century, were used as cisterns, that were supplied with rainwater and, from the 16th century, with water from the Roßberg Spring, away, over pipes made of clay or hollow tree trunks. The long upper castle (''Oberburg'') on the central rock was built from 1212 to 1232 as the first residential building but has not survived, apart from its well and an inaccessible chamber and steps in the rock.

Gallery

File:Neuscharfeneck_Torturm_aussen.jpg, Gate tower from the outside File:Neuscharfeneck-28-Torturm-gje.jpg, Gate tower from the inner courtyard File:Neuscharfeneck-25-Pallas vom Torturm-gje.jpg, View from the gate tower towards Pallas File:Neuscharfeneck-77-Pallas von Schildmauer-gje.jpg, View from the shield wall towards Pallas

References

Literature

* * Rolf Übel: ''Burg Neuscharfeneck bei Dernbach, Kreis Südliche Weinstraße''. Verlag für Burgenkunde und Pfalzforschung, Landau, 1998 * Alexander Thon (ed.): ''"... wie eine gebannte, unnahbare Zauberburg". Burgen in der Südpfalz''. 2nd, improved ed., Regensburg, 2005, pp. 122–127. * Walter Herrmann: ''Auf Rotem Fels'', pp. 150–155, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, 2004, * Jochen Goetze: ''Burgen in der Pfalz'', pp. 46–50, Heidelberg, 1991,

External links

Castle entry
in the scientific castle data bank of the European Institute of Castles (EBIDAT)

{{Authority control Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Südliche Weinstraße Buildings and structures in the Palatinate Forest Rock castles