Dagstuhl Castle

The ruins Dagstuhl

The Dagstuhl Castle is the ruins of a medieval hilltop castle at 332.1 m above sea level. NN in Dagstuhl, a district of the municipality of Saarland Wadern district Merzig- Wadern. The hill fort was built in the 13th century and underwent several modifications throughout its history before it was laying down in the 18th century. The Grade II listed ruins can be visited free of charge since 2006.

History

The 1290 first mentioned castle was built around 1270 by the Knights Bohemund of Saarbrücken. She served as an outpost Kurtriers against the Lords of Schwarzenberg and stood at the mouth of strategically important Wadrill and Löster in the prims.

As the knights became extinct in the 14th century, the castle in 1375 came as Community property to the families of the four Erbtöchter, especially the men of Fleckenstein, bridges, and Kriechingen Rollingen, and thus became the Ganerbenburg. In 1404 it was conquered in a feud by Nikolaus Vogt Hunolstein before it was subjected during the period 1466-1472 a reconstruction.

Trier Elector Philipp Christoph von Sötern bought the plant together with the rule in the first third of the 17th century by the Ganerben and had them on the seat of which he founded Familienfideikommiss rebuild. Thus, the Palace was rebuilt, for example. 1696 the castle came by marriage to the family of the Counts of Oettingen- Baldern.

The plant survived the wars of the 16th and 17th centuries largely unscathed. 1674 she served the French Marshal Turenne and his troops as winter quarters. 1717 its fortifications were destroyed at the insistence of France. At that time the castle was in the trusteeship of the Trier Archbishop Franz Georg von Schönborn, who let them manage by Wolfgang Anton Lange coat. In the course of the 18th century, the buildings were demolished from 1726 to 1759 as planned and disrepair. As a quarry they delivered it the building material for the Dagstuhl Castle, which was built in 1760 by Count Joseph Anton von Oettingen- Sötern as a new family residence in Dagstuhl.

In the 1980s there was a exposure of the foundations so that the ground plan of the castle can be seen again today. Since 1999 We also provide systematic excavations conducted under the supervision of the country Monuments Office of the Saarland.

Plant

The approximately 300 -meter-long castle complex consists of the ruins of a castle core, a north upstream bailey and a southern Barbican. Your most impressive part is the partially broken castle tower. Otherwise, only foundations remain. Two modern timber bridges cross neck trenches which separate the outer ward from the rest of the mountain.