Wegelnburg

Schönau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, Germany

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Wegelnburg is a ruined castle perched at 572 meters atop a sandstone ridge near Schönau in Rhineland-Palatinate's Palatinate Forest, Germany, the highest such site in the region with panoramic views over the Northern Vosges.

Built by the Hohenstaufen dynasty in the 12th or 13th century to guard imperial borders and named after vassal B. de Woeglenburc first recorded in 1247, it was destroyed in 1272 for the castellan's breach of peace, rebuilt by the von Wegelnburg family, pawned to the Palatinate in 1330, and traded to Zweibrücken in 1417 before French troops under General Monclar razed it in 1679 per the Treaty of Nijmegen.

Featuring three baileys with preserved rock-hewn stairs, gateways, niches, and seamless rock-wall foundations, it underwent restorations from 1979–1982 by Rhineland-Palatinate's castle administration and reopened after recent work.