Burg Hohenecken

Kaiserslautern, Germany, Germany

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Burg Hohenecken is the ruin of a medieval spur castle on the Schlossberg hill above the Kaiserslautern district of Hohenecken in Rhineland‑Palatinate, Germany, built in the 12th to 13th century in the Staufer period shortly after the imperial palace in Kaiserslautern was established under Frederick Barbarossa.

The castle stood on a rocky spur at about 369 meters above sea level and originally consisted of an upper and lower ward with a large Schildmauer, a five‑sided bergfried, and an extensive outer wall area measuring roughly 50 by 90 meters.

It remained in the hands of the local ministerial family von Hohenecken, closely tied to the imperial court, until the 17th century, when it was first damaged in the Peasants’ War of 1525, then partly destroyed after a long siege by the Elector Karl Ludwig of the Palatinate in 1668 and finally blown up by French troops in 1689 during the War of the Palatine Succession.

Today the imposing, freely accessible ruins cover about 4,500 square meters and are regarded as one of the best‑preserved and most impressive Staufer‑era castles in the Palatinate, offering a striking silhouette and wide views over the surrounding Reichswald and the Landstuhler Bruch landscape.