Hohenfels Castle (Ruin) (Allendorf)

Hohenfels Castle, located between Allendorf and Buchenau in the municipality of Dautphetal in the district of Marburg-Biedenkopf (Hesse), was the ancestral seat of the Lords of Hohenfels. They were the local lords in the area of today's municipality of Dautphetal.

The hilltop castle consists of a double castle on the peaks of the Hohenfels and the Kleiner Hohenfels. It lies at an altitude of approximately 402 m above sea level. It is assumed that the castle complex was built in several construction phases. The western castle is considered the older part of the double castle. The western castle has a footprint of about 560 m², the eastern one of about 390 m².

The exact construction date of the castles is unknown. The castles were owned by the Lords of Hohenfels. The first mention of the family was in 1174 when a Ludwig von Hohenfels appeared as a witness for Landgrave Heinrich Raspe.

In a document dated July 29, 1249, Konrad, Gumpert, and Eckhard von Hohenfels, Volpert Hosekin, and Siegfried Slimph are named as lords of the castle. The Lords of Hohenfels sided with the Archbishopric of Mainz, which is why Hohenfels Castle was razed in 1293 under Landgrave Heinrich. According to archaeological findings, the castle was no longer used after the end of the 13th century.

For a long time, it remained undiscovered, as only a few parts of the former complex were visible. Since 1997, the Hohenfels Castle Association, with the help of the University of Marburg, has been dedicated to the research and preservation of the castle ruins.