Wildenstein Castle

Wildenstein Castle is the ruin of a hilltop castle on a 486 m above sea level high hill in the "Wildenstein Valley" hidden in a forest at the foot of the Donnersberg near Dannenfels in the Donnersberg district in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The castle belongs to the type of motte castles. Together with the three other castle ruins of Falkenstein, Hohenfels and Tannenfels, it formed the ring of Donnersberg castles.

Nothing is known about the exact period of the castle's construction. In 1276, the castle was first mentioned in a document when the complex passed to Philipp V. von Bolanden's daughter Lukardis after his death. Thereafter, further mentions always occurred in connection with changes of ownership. Thus, between 1304 and 1308, the castle came into imperial possession of King Albrecht of Habsburg through an exchange for Gleichen Castle. In 1321, King Friedrich the Fair enfeoffed locum Wildenstein for two decades to Count Philipp von Sponheim-Dannenfels, and finally in 1328 it became a sub-fief of the Counts of Leiningen. It was probably destroyed in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). In 1657, the castle was already referred to as a ruin.

In 1938, the ruin was owned by the municipality of Albisheim. Excavations took place in 1963, during which crossbow bolts, arrow and spearheads, as well as a Romanesque key were found. Today, the castle is located in the Dannenfels district.