Altenstein, Castle ruin in Bad Liebenstein, Germany

Altenstein is a castle ruin in Bad Liebenstein featuring stone walls, towers, and foundations that reveal different construction phases from the medieval period. The surrounding grounds form a park where visitors can walk among the remains and see how the fortification was once organized.

Altenstein was built as one of the first stone castles in the middle Werra valley and was granted around 1120 by Fulda Abbey to the Franconian von Stein family. The name Altenstein appears in 1225; in 1346 the castle passed to the Landgraves of Thuringia. A marauding mercenary troop of the Margrave of Ansbach plundered and devastated it in 1554, and after a fire set in 1733 the dukes built the new Schloss Altenstein from 1736.

The name Altenstein, recorded in 1225 as de antiquo lapide, distinguished the older castle from the 13th-century counter-fortress Markgrafenstein, called the New Stone. The associated burggraviate was known locally as the Dornheckenamt, the thorn-hedge office. The Markgrafenstein was stormed and destroyed by rebellious peasants in the Bauernkrieg, while Altenstein was left untouched.

The site is accessible by foot and the ruins can be freely explored, though sturdy walking shoes are recommended. Paths are uneven in places, so caution is needed near wall openings and loose structures.

From 1995, excavations in the castle cellars cleared a buried cistern to a depth of 7 metres. The last object recovered from it was a bottle from around 1900, which showed only that the shaft was backfilled in the 20th century.