Burgruine Lichtenstein

The Burgruine Lichtenstein stands on the Butzenberg hill near Neidlingen in the Regierungsbezirk Stuttgart. The site is a Bronze Age hillfort with dry-stone walls and terraces rebuilt in the early 20th century. No medieval settlement remains have been found, only Bronze Age ramparts and modern reconstructions. The first written mention of a castle called Lichtenstein appears in 1833, when a local official misread local field names and linked them to a knight named Lichtenberg. The ruins visible today were shaped by Albert Hölzle, a Kirchheim pharmacist, whose club began the dry-stone work in 1913. Visitors walk along the Bronze Age ramparts and terraces laid out by the Lichtenstein club. The dry-stone walls frame wide views across the Alb plateau. The hilltop offers clear sightlines to surrounding valleys and wooded ridges.