Burg Tannenfels

The Burg Tannenfels stands on a 645-metre-high sandstone rock in the Black Forest village of Baiersbronn. It overlooks the Murg valley between the Rechtmurg and Ilgenbach streams. The ruin is a tower castle built in the 13th century on a site first fortified in the 11th or early 12th century. Archaeologists found an older ditch and pottery fragments beneath the later stonework. The tower fell into ruin by the mid-14th century after a fire, possibly during a local feud. The site has no known noble owners. A family named Tannenfels lived far away in the Allgäu region, not in the Murg valley. In 1371–73 the castle was said to have been destroyed during a campaign led by Count Eberhard the Greiner and allies from Strasbourg. Excavations in 1977–78 by the Baden-Württemberg state heritage office recorded the ruins and prepared repairs. The dig showed the tower had three or four storeys, with upper floors likely built of timber. Visitors reach the ruin along forest paths from Baiersbronn-Obertal. The sheer rock faces give natural defence, so no curtain wall was needed. A small outer rock may once have carried a wooden stair to the entrance. Inside, only traces of the stone tower remain, its walls built with bossed ashlar blocks lifted by a crane-like device. The summit offers wide views over the valley and surrounding forest. The site also served in 2020 as a filming location for a ZDF crime drama.