Burgruine Koppenstein

Henau, Germany, Germany

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Burgruine Koppenstein near Henau in Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, is a medieval highland castle ruin perched at 555 meters on the Koppensteiner Höhe above the Kellenbach valley in the Soonwald forest.

Likely originating in the 12th or early 13th century with prehistoric earthworks, it was significantly expanded after 1325 by the Counts of Sponheim, featuring a prominent five-sided bergfried tower, a new palas with French-style half-towers, ring walls, and economic buildings around a courtyard.

In 1330, Emperor Louis the Bavarian granted town rights to the settlement at its base, but lacking water, trade routes, and accessibility, both castle and town were abandoned by the Thirty Years' War and fell into ruin after the Sponheims' extinction in 1437, now privately owned by the Barons of Salis-Soglio.