Ziegenberg Castle (Langenhain)

Ziegenberg Castle is located on a mountain spur to the left of the Usa river, above the Langenhain-Ziegenberg district of the municipality of Ober-Mörlen in the Wetteraukreis in Hesse.

The Baroque castle is a right-angled, two-winged complex. Of the former medieval castle, only the keep remains today.

The Mörler Mark, which included Ziegenberg, came to the Lords of Falkenstein in 1356 as a hereditary fief from the Lords of Eppstein.

In the Imperial War of 1365/1366 against Philipp VI von Falkenstein, a "tower", probably still built by the Lords of Eppstein, was conquered by Frankfurt troops. Presumably, in place of this fortification, the Lords of Falkenstein had a new castle built from 1367 onwards. This was first mentioned in a document in 1388.

After the extinction of the Lords of Falkenstein, the castle fell to the Lords of Eppstein-Münzenberg in 1419. They sold it in 1478 to Count Philipp I von Katzenelnbogen. With his death in 1479, the Counts of Katzenelnbogen died out. The castle came by inheritance to the Landgraves of Hesse-Marburg.

As a Hessian fief, the castle first came to the Lords of Traxdorf and in 1557 to the Barons von Diede zum Fürstenstein. Eitel von Diede, Burgrave of Friedberg from 1745 to 1748, had the medieval castle converted into a Baroque palace around 1747. With the death of Wilhelm Christoph von Diede in 1807, the family died out. By way of inheritance, the complex came to the Counts of Rantzau. They sold it in 1896 to the Frankfurt family Passavant-Gontard. The family used the complex as a summer residence.

In 1937/1938, the family ceded the complex to the German Reich. From 1939, the German Wehrmacht built extensive bunker systems in the complex (see Führer Headquarters Adlerhorst). In September 1944, the Ardennes Offensive was led from here by Field Marshal von Rundstedt. In March 1945, the castle was largely destroyed by American fighter-bombers.

Partially restored, a complete conversion of the complex into condominiums took place in 1992/1993.

Source text: Wikipedia