Burg Alt-Wolfstein, Medieval castle ruins in Wolfstein, Germany

Burg Alt-Wolfstein is the remains of a medieval castle perched on a hilltop near Wolfstein. Stone walls and a central tower still stand, offering views over the Lauter Valley below.

Old Wolfstein Castle was probably built under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa around 1160/70 to guard the Imperial Estate around Kaiserslautern. It is first recorded in 1275 as Woluistein, held by imperial ministeriales. In the 14th century it passed as an imperial pledge to the counts of Sponheim and Veldenz; in 1400 the archbishops of Mainz and Trier, the Duke of Lorraine and Rupert III besieged it. The dispute over possession ended in 1504 when Prince-Elector Philip of the Palatinate destroyed it.

The castle is first recorded in 1275 as Woluistein, a name tied to the rock spur above the Lauter. Its garrison came from Sponheim ministerialis families, whose repeated raids led to armed conflict and to the sieges of 1362 and 1400. The trowel set into the inner wall of the bergfried recalls a craftsman who fell during restoration work before 1970.

The ruin stands on the eastern slope of the Königsberg at the narrowest point of the Lauter valley. Rubble of the former outer ward lies on the steep slope north of the main castle. Excavations between 1961 and 1975 uncovered a castle house, a gate tower and a shaft well.

On the inner wall of the ruined bergfried, at some height, the handle and rear part of a mason's trowel are set into the masonry. Workmates are said to have walled it in memory of a colleague who fell to his death during restoration work, at the exact height of the fall; the date is before 1970 and cannot be fixed more precisely.