Kastell Holten, Medieval castle in Holten district, Oberhausen, Germany

Kastell Holten is a medieval water castle in Oberhausen, with its surviving east wing showing the defensive architecture of its era. The site was naturally protected by marshland on multiple sides, demonstrating how medieval builders used geography for protection.

A castle existed here earlier: Burg Holte is recorded in 1188, 1243 and 1250, when shares were sold to the Archbishop of Cologne. In 1307 Count Engelbert II of the Mark, who had married Mechthild von Holte und Arberg, strengthened the site as a border fort against Cleves. Spanish troops occupied it in 1586 and again in 1598, not continuously; Hessian troops followed in 1623 and 1634, and French units in 1672.

The building is the clubhouse of the Bürgerschützengilde Holten von 1308, a citizens' shooting guild founded in 1308, the year after the castle. The guild uses it for meetings and events, so the former castle is not open as a museum but is a working club venue.

The site is located at Kastellstraße 56 and can be reached by public transport, with Holten Markt station being the closest stop. Keep in mind that this is a privately used building, so viewing access may be limited or require advance planning.

The castle was built in 1307 on a site where a moat and a high earthen rampart once stood; remains of that rampart are still visible today. The four-storey residential tower on the north side and a stair tower on the west side were later demolished, and the south wing was torn down in 1961.