Frankenstein Castle

Frankenstein Castle stands on a rocky spur above the village of Frankenstein in the Palatinate Forest. Built as a medieval fortification, it rises above the surrounding woodland and offers long views over the countryside. The castle’s name comes from the local House of Frankenstein, first recorded in 1146. A defensive tower was raised around 1100, later expanded into a full castle in the early 13th century by the counts of Leiningen. Knights such as Marquard and Friedrich von Frankenstein once administered the fortress. The castle played a part in many conflicts across the centuries. It was damaged in the 15th century during struggles between Prince-elector Frederick I and Count Palatine Ludwig I. Spanish troops under General Ambrosio Spinola took the castle in the Thirty Years’ War. French soldiers used it in the War of the Spanish Succession and still held mass in the chapel in 1703. After the Palatinate passed to Bavaria, the ruins were secured in 1883–84 and again in 1938–39. Later excavations uncovered a previously unknown shield wall. Visitors walk through parts restored in the 1970s and 1980s. The castle chapel survives from the period when French troops were stationed there. Foundations of the shield wall lie beneath the restored sections. From the spur the forest stretches away in every direction. The village below keeps the castle’s name alive.