Tannenfels Castle

Tannenfels Castle is the ruin of a hilltop castle at 460 m above sea level, above the municipality of Dannenfels on the Donnersberg in the Donnersberg district in Rhineland-Pfalz.

The motte-and-bailey castle was first mentioned in a document in 1330, when Count Philipp and his wife Lisa von Katzenelnbogen founded a chapel in the castle. The property, along with the Kirchheim lordship, belonged to the Lords of Bolanden. At the end of the 13th century, the largest part came into the possession of the Counts of Sponheim as an inheritance. Burgmann Bechtholf von Beckingen was installed in the castle in 1364. Tannenfels Castle briefly became the seat of the Sponheim secondary line Bolanden-Dannenfels. After their extinction in 1393, the castle fell to Nassau-Saarbrücken, and later in 1431, a part of the castle came into the possession of the Palatine Counts. During the Peasants' War in 1525, the castle was completely destroyed by rebellious peasants and later dismantled. The ruin remained in the possession of the House of Nassau-Saarbrücken until 1797.

Of the former castle complex on an artificially created rampart and mound system, only small remains of a tower, a retaining wall, and a well are still present.