Ehrenstein Castle

Burgrest Ehrenstein refers to the ruins of a rock castle on the 536 m above sea level "Löwenfelsen" (Lion's Rock) near the Ehrenstein district of the municipality of Blaustein in the Alb-Donau-Kreis in Baden-Württemberg.

The castle was built in the 12th century; Eberhard von Erichstain is mentioned in the Zwiefalten Chronicle around 1137/38. The castle was probably an imperial fief of the Counts of Dillingen; between 1209 and 1216, a Heinrich von Ehrenstein was a vassal of the Dillingen Counts. Around the year 1220, the castle was then expanded or rebuilt with ashlar masonry.

In 1259, the Dillingen Counts sold the castle to the Counts of Helfenstein, who in turn later sold it to the House of Württemberg. The Söflingen Monastery acquired Ehrenstein Castle from the Württembergers.

The castle complex was destroyed between 1280 and 1290; only the castle chapel, first mentioned in 1275, which stood somewhat outside the complex, remained. In the following centuries, however, the chapel fell into disrepair, as in 1718 it was stated: "How dilapidated, how miserable and with what great worrying dangers the church in Ehrenstein finds itself." Shortly thereafter, in 1724, it was demolished.

Only remnants of the walls of the former castle complex remain.