Battenberg Castle
| Battenberg Castle | |
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| Burg Battenberg | |
| Battenberg (Palatinate) | |
Battenberg castle ruins seen from the south (2007)
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 Battenberg Castle
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| Coordinates | 49°31′56″N 8°08′41″E / 49.5322°N 8.1447°ECoordinates: 49°31′56″N 8°08′41″E / 49.5322°N 8.1447°E |
| Type | hill castle, spur castle |
| Code | DE-RP |
| Height | 280 m above sea level (NN) |
| Site information | |
| Condition | ruin |
| Site history | |
| Built | 13th century |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | counts |
Battenberg Castle (German: Burg Battenberg) is a castle ruin near Battenberg in the county of Bad Dürkheim in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
The castle stands on a foothill of the Haardt range of sandstone hills which rises abruptly from the Rhine Plain on the north-eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest. Together with the small village of the same name, immediately to the west, it is 280 metres (920 ft) above sea level, above the right bank of the Eckbach stream.
Below the castle, by the ochre-coloured rocks bordering the winding approach road, the so-called Blitzröhren (literally "lightning pipes") reach the surface. These are not true fulgurites caused by lightning strikes, but columns of hard, iron-rich mineral exposed by erosion and sintering of the softer sandstone. The Haardtrand-Im Baumgarten nature reserve borders the eastern slopes of the castle hill.
It is presumed that the castle was constructed by Count Frederick III of Leiningen (d. 1287), and it remained a possession of the House of Leiningen - until 1689, when it was destroyed during the War of the Palatine Succession by French troops. Together with Neuleiningen Castle, on the opposite hillside 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) metres to the north, it controlled access to the Eckbach valley. To the south-east, 5 kilometres (3 mi) upstream, stands the Leiningen family seat of Altleiningen.
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Wikipedia