Burg Altenwied

Neustadt, Germany, Germany

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Burg Altenwied, near Neustadt (Wied) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, is a medieval spur castle ruin first built before 1129 by Count Metfried von Wied as the ancestral seat of the Counts of Wied, with its initial phase completed around 1179 and expanded in the 13th-14th centuries into a fortified complex including a bergfried tower, ring walls, and a surrounding murus with gates like Porz, Judentor, and Mühlentor that unified the castle and village defenses.

Never conquered militarily, it housed a chapel used for burials and served as an administrative center until abandoned in the late 17th century after Count Hermann zu Wied shifted the residence to Neuwied in 1653, later quarried for stone and devastated in the Thirty Years' War. Today, picturesque remnants overlook the Wied Valley, accessible to hikers amid the village of Altwied.