Rabenstein Castle (Ruin)

The castle ruin Rabenstein, formerly also called Ritenburg, is a former high medieval noble castle at the end of the Schambach valley on the steep mountainside below Rosenburg Castle above the town of Riedenburg in the Lower Bavarian district of Kelheim in Germany. The castle ruin is freely accessible at any time and now serves as a viewpoint.

The former Rabenstein Castle is located in the eastern part of the Franconian Jura in the lower Altmühl valley, above the confluence of the Schambach into the Altmühl or into the Main-Danube Canal in the Altmühltal Nature Park. It lies 125 meters east of the immediately adjacent Rosenburg Castle on an eastward-facing spur at approximately height, and thus stands 100 meters above the valley.

The ruin is located about 100 meters south-southwest of the Catholic parish church of St. John the Baptist in Riedenburg.

Nearby are other former medieval castles: Rabenstein Castle, together with Rosenburg Castle, the former Tachenstein Castle located only a few hundred meters northwest, and Aicholding Castle on the opposite side of the Altmühl valley, form the Riedenburg castle group.

Within sight of the ruin is also the well-preserved Prunn Castle only a few kilometers down the Altmühl valley, and a little further down the Altmühl, the Randeck Castle ruin. Up the Schambach valley is Hexenagger Castle and several castle stables around the village of Hexenagger. To the northwest stands Eggersberg Castle and the Eggersberg motte with its preserved keep remnants, and a little further the Flügelsberg ruin.

Presumably, the hilltop castle was built at the beginning of the 12th century by the Burgraves of Regensburg. From 1400 onwards, the manor is no longer mentioned and fell into disrepair after its destruction in the 16th century. Of the former castle complex, which had an upper and lower castle, wall remains of the residential tower and fragments of the curtain wall are still preserved.