Burg Neuwolfstein

Burg Neu-Wolfstein stands on a 238-metre hill above the town of Wolfstein in the county of Kusel. It was probably built between 1275 and 1324 by Rudolph of Habsburg to defend the newly founded town. The castle first appears in records in 1324 as Hus zu Wolvenstein. In 1503 it was badly damaged during the War of the Succession of Landshut. The French destroyed it in 1688 and rebuilt it for use as a barracks. Marshal Villar ordered its partial destruction in 1713. The castle’s ruins now serve as a war memorial. Since 1963 they have belonged to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Surviving features include the neck ditch, a 1.2-metre-thick enceinte wall, the shield wall, the castle gate and the foundations of the palas. St George’s Chapel was used as a church by the town from 1720 to 1771. After 1798 the site was abandoned and left to decay. Visitors find a quiet hilltop ruin with clear traces of its past. The thick curtain wall still rises in places, and the outline of the gate can be traced. The filled-in well, once deep enough to swallow cavalry, is marked by legend. From the hill there are views across the surrounding countryside. The site is peaceful now, a place to walk among the remnants of stone and imagine the castle’s long history.