Burg Kirspenich, Medieval castle in Bad Münstereifel, Germany

Burg Kirspenich is a two-part water castle in the Kirspenich district of Bad Münstereifel. Its massive square residential tower, 28.5 metres high, stands on what was originally an island, with a separate outer bailey enclosed by water defences. The baroque dwelling house, built against the tower around the end of the 17th century, incorporates a 16th-century building remnant and has one of the earliest mansard roofs in the Rhineland.

A Hermann von Kirspenich is documented in 1166, first evidence of a noble seat here. Gerlach von Dollendorf, who also built nearby Arloff Castle, held Kirspenich in 1278; the square rubble-stone residential tower is probably his work. In 1301 the site is explicitly called a water castle with a separate outer bailey, held as a fief from the Count of Jülich. The tall free-standing tower received its surrounding walls in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The castle's name comes from the von Kirspenich family, first documented in 1166. The residential house added at the end of the 17th century received one of the first mansard roofs in the Rhineland, a detail visible from the courtyard. The baroque house abuts the medieval tower and incorporates a 16th-century building remnant.

The castle is in private ownership and not open to the public; there is no booking system or event rental. Visitors can view the complex from the outside, including the water-filled moat and the 28.5-metre-high residential tower. The site lies in the Kirspenich district of Bad Münstereifel and is part of the Wasserburgen-Route.

The complex features a square residential tower that has stood on an island for centuries, making it one of the few surviving examples of medieval island fortifications in the region. This particular layout made the castle exceptionally difficult to access by force.