Welcome to Landeck Castle

Landeck Castle towers over the municipality of Klingenmünster on a foothill of the Treutelsberg.

The origins of the castle complex, which was first mentioned in a document in 1237, are still disputed by researchers today. However, the oldest preserved parts date back to around 1200. As is so often the case in the Palatinate, the imperial feudal lords were the Counts of Leiningen. They founded a collateral line that lived at Landeck Castle but died out as early as 1289/90. After that, the Lords of Ochsenstein and the Counts of Zweibrücken-Bitsch owned the castle before it later became part of the Electoral Palatinate. The Bishopric of Speyer also owned part of the castle complex until 1709. After French troops destroyed Landeck, presumably in 1680, it was left to decay. It was not until 1964 that extensive renovation work by the State Administration in co-operation with the Landeck Association, founded in 1881, secured the building‘s existence.

Unlike most fortifications, Landeck Castle does not stand on a protective rock that is difficult to access, but on a relatively low rocky spur. The builders made up for this with an extremely massive construction. The well-preserved keep is impressive with its height of 23 metres and its “high mantle“ of humpback ashlars, which suggested a certain impenetrability to any attackers. Only the roof of the keep and the wooden parapet of the mantle wall are missing today. Its battlements are a new addition from 1910.

The three-storey hall structure was located directly next to the keep, from which four window recesses with benches and beam holes can still be seen. Facing it stood a half-timbered house with a cellar, which served as a residential or farm building. The curtain wall around the curtain wall with shell towers, the outwork between the bridge and the castle gate and the bridge piers were built in the 15th century. The current bridge over the

moat was renovated in 1967.

In addition to catering, Landeck Castle also offers a variety of events, including the oldest medieval castle festival in the Palatinate. The keep houses a museum on the history of the castle, which is well worth a visit.