Staufenberg Castle (Ruin)

Staufenberg Castle is located in the town of Staufenberg, on the mountain of the same name (268 m, Vorderer Vogelsberg) in the district of Gießen in Hesse.

The hilltop castle was first mentioned in a document in 1233 and was written as Stouphenberch (rocky mountain). At that time, the castle was owned by the Counts of Ziegenhain, who were bailiffs of Fulda Abbey and had built the castle in the 12th century to protect Fulda's possessions in the area. In 1273, during a war between the Landgraviate of Hesse and the Archbishopric of Mainz, the castle was destroyed for the first time, as Count Gottfried VI of Ziegenhain sided with Mainz. In 1450, the County of Ziegenhain, with the death of the last count, Johann II, passed by inheritance to Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse. He had the castle rebuilt and reinforced. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was destroyed again and not rebuilt afterwards. It gradually fell into disrepair and was used as a quarry.

In 1858, Princes Ludwig and Heinrich of Hesse-Darmstadt, who were studying in Gießen, acquired the lower castle and had it restored in the style of a palace. The planning for this was carried out by Hugo von Ritgen.

In 1925, the castle became the property of the Hessian State through a land exchange.

The upper castle, of which a part of the palas is still preserved, has been owned by the city of Staufenberg since 2002. The lower castle, converted into a hotel, was sold by the State of Hesse at the same time. For over a year, there was a public dispute about the sale of the castle, the loss of the lease, and the ultimately still unknown selling price. The lower castle today houses the Hotel Burg Staufenberg.

Source Text: Wikipedia