Burg Laurenburg

Laurenburg, Germany, Germany

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Burg Laurenburg in Laurenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, is a medieval hill castle constructed around 1090 by Count Dudo of Laurenburg—founder of the House of Nassau—and his father Ruprecht, first documented in 1093 as an early seat before the family relocated to Nassau castle in the 12th century.

Shared among noble lines like the Knights of Staffel and Brenner by 1347, it fell into ruin over centuries of ownership changes, including acquisition by Reichsgraf Peter Melander of Holzappel in 1643, with only its pentagonal bergfried tower from the 12th-13th century preserved through later repairs.

Below the ruins stands Schloss Laurenburg, a separate three-winged Baroque residence first noted in 1343 and used as a noble summer retreat by figures like the Princes of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym in the early 1700s.