Laurenburg Castle, Medieval castle ruins in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Laurenburg Castle is a medieval ruin in Rhineland-Palatinate that rises above the Lahn River valley with stone walls, narrow defensive windows, and remains of its inner courtyard. The structure reveals how a fortress of this period was designed and built to protect the surrounding land.

Count Dudo of Laurenburg and his father Ruprecht built the castle around 1090, and it was first mentioned in a document in 1093. A few decades later the counts moved their seat to Nassau and took that name. By 1643, when Field Marshal Peter Melander von Holzappel bought it, the castle had already fallen into ruin.

The castle gave the House of Nassau its first known seat; Dudo of Laurenburg is the earliest named ancestor of the dynasty. The counts moved to Nassau in the 12th century and took that name. Today the knights' hall serves as a wedding room, and the tower is a local viewpoint.

The castle is reached from Laurenburg or Scheidt via Kreisstraße K 23, which passes about 100 m east of the site. The outer area is freely accessible; the keep can be visited and climbed, and its platform gives a view over Laurenburg and the Lahn valley. The knight's hall houses a small military museum and can be used as a wedding room.

The five-sided bergfried is 22 metres high and four storeys tall, probably built in the 12th or 13th century. An external wooden staircase on the west side leads to the high entrance, behind which lies the knights' hall; from there a wooden stair and a spiral staircase in the east corner reach the viewing platform.