The castles of Dahn (, literally "Dahn castle group"), near the little town of

Dahn Dahn () is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate Forest, approximately 15 km southeast of Pirmasens, and 25 km west of Landau. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemei ...

in the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, consist of three

rock castle A rock castle () is a type of medieval castle that directly incorporates natural rock outcrops into its defences to such an extent that the rock formations define the structure of the castle. Topographically, rock castles are classified as hill ...

s: * Altdahn * Grafendahn * Tanstein

Geography

The so-called

Dahner Felsenland The Dahner Felsenland, also referred to as the Dahn Rockland, is a landscape in the county of Südwestpfalz in the Germany, German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is located in the middle section of the Wasgau, which in turn forms the ...

area of the

Wasgau The Wasgau (, ) is a France, Franco-Germany, German Mountain range, hill range in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the French departments of France, departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle (department), Moselle. It is formed from the south ...

, the region forming the southern part of the

Palatine Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771&n ...

and the northern part of the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

, has a large number of castles and rock formations. For example, northwest of the castles at Dahn is

Neudahn Castle The rock castle of Neudahn, in the southwestern Palatine Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, is located at the northern end of an elongated ridge near the town of Dahn. The heart of the castle is situated on one of the sandstone r ...

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

: the Dreistein at Odilienberg near

Obernai Obernai (Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Owernah''; ) is Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Departments of France, department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It lies on the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains. Obernai is a rapidly g ...

, 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 Reinhardsmunster () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin department of France. The commune ...

, the Drei Exen near

Eguisheim Eguisheim (; ; 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 (). The village lies on the edge of the Ballons des Vosges Nature Park, where the Vo ...

and the castle group of Haut-Kœnigsbourg/ Oedenburg.

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