Burg Landeck

Burg Landeck stands on a limestone crag 285 metres above sea level in the village of Landeck, a part of Teningen north of Emmendingen. The ruin crowns a spur that drops steeply on three sides, giving the medieval builders a natural defence. It is one of the few well-preserved castle ruins in the Breisgau region. The site was once called Schadelandeck, a name that still appears in local speech. A small settlement grew beside the castle before the 15th century but later vanished. The twin nuclei of the fortress are known as the Upper and Lower Castles. The Upper Castle is a long rectangle enclosed by a curtain wall with a tall tower-like hall at its heart. This palas had four storeys, three hearths and large windows on the north side, its show front. A shallow ditch now separates the Upper from the Lower Castle, which is roughly triangular. There a broad palas twenty metres long faces south-east, its late-Romanesque and early-Gothic paired windows still visible. A small chapel is attached to its north-east corner; its choir arch, ribbed vault and corbel figures belong to the 14th century. West of both parts lie traces of an outer ward. Visitors walk along the curtain walls and into the shell of the great hall. The chapel’s Gothic details can be seen from outside and in. The view stretches across the Emmendingen plain to the Black Forest hills. The ruins are reached by quiet lanes through vineyards and farmland. The contrast between the crumbling stone and the green valley below makes the place memorable.