Burg Alt-Wolfstein

Burg Alt-Wolfstein stands on the eastern slopes of the Königsberg in the Lauter valley near Wolfstein. The ruined hillside castle guards the narrowest point of the valley. It was probably built around 1160–70 under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to oversee the Imperial Estate around Kaiserslautern. The castle first appears in records from 1275 as Woluistein, held by imperial ministeriales. By the 14th century it became a pledge object, passing between counts of Sponheim and Veldenz. The castle saw repeated conflicts in the 14th century. Baldwin of Luxembourg tried without success to acquire it through imperial mortgage. Raids by Sponheim ministeriales led to sieges in 1362 and 1400 by the Bishop of Speyer and allied archbishops. Electoral Palatinate gained a quarter share after these events. Fighting continued in the 15th and 16th centuries between Electoral Palatinate and the Duchy of Zweibrücken. Today the ruins include a 20-metre-high bergfried with a platform offering wide views. The walls show well-preserved High Hohenstaufen architecture, including an elongated tip designed to deflect attacks. North of the ruins lie remains of the outer ward’s old wall. Excavations from 1961 to 1975 uncovered parts of a castle residence, a gate tower and a water well. A trowel embedded in the bergfried’s wall marks the spot where a worker died during restoration before 1970.