The castles of Dahn (german: Dahner Burgengruppe, literally "Dahn castle group"), near the little town of Dahn in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, consist of three rock castles: * Altdahn * Grafendahn * Tanstein

Geography

The so-called Dahner Felsenland area of the

Wasgau The Wasgau (german: Wasgau, french: Vasgovie) is a Franco-German hill range in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the French departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle. It is formed from the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the north ...

, the region forming the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the northern part of the Vosges, has a large number of castles and rock formations. For example, northwest of the castles at Dahn is Neudahn Castle and, close to the edge of the town, there are natural rock formations like the Jungfernsprung and the Bride and Groom (''Braut und Bräutigam'').

History

The three castles were built next to one another, but not at the same time, utilizing five neighbouring rocks on a single ridge situated just under a kilometre east of Dahn. Their construction involved several generations of noble families from Dahn and lasted almost two centuries: Tanstein dates to the early 12th century; Altdahn to the early 13th century and Grafendahn to the late 13th century.

Similar castle groups

A similar arrangement of two or three castles clustered closely together may be found in several places in the south part of neighbouring Alsatian Vosges: the Dreistein at

Odilienberg , photo = Ottrott Mont Sainte-Odile.JPG , photo_caption = Mont Sainte-Odile and the Monastery , elevation_m = 764 , elevation_ref = Official maps of IGN available on the ''Géoportail''. , prominence_m = , prominence_ref= , range = Vos ...

near Obernai, the three castles on the

Schlossberg Schlossberg or Schloßberg (German for ''Castle Mountain''; usually a hill or mountain with a "castle" on it) may refer to: Places *Schlossberg (Bavaria), a part of the municipality of Stephanskirchen in Bavaria, Germany *Schloßberg (Bopfingen), a ...

near Reinhardsmunster, the

Drei Exen Drei may refer to: * ''Drei'' (Glashaus album), a 2005 album by pop band Glashaus * ''Drei'' (Emika album) (stylised form: ''DREI''), a 2015 album by electronic artist Emika * ''Three'' (2010 film), a German film called ''Drei'' in German * Drei ...

near

Eguisheim Eguisheim (; german: Egisheim; Alsatian: ''Egsa'') is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It lies in the historical region of Alsace (german: Elsass). The village lies on the edge of the Ballons des Vosges ...

and the castle group of Haut-Kœnigsbourg/

Oedenburg Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl, Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Ro ...

Literature

* * * * * * *

External links

Dahner Felsenland: ''Altdahn–Grafendahn–Tanstein''

{{Coord, 49, 9, 1, N, 7, 48, 9, E, type:landmark_region:DE-RP, display=title Rock castles Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate ! Heritage sites in Rhineland-Palatinate Buildings and structures in Südwestpfalz