Burgruine Sommerau, Castle ruin in Sommerau, Germany.

Burgruine Sommerau is a medieval castle ruin perched on a rocky spur overlooking the Ruwer River. The standing walls reveal the original structure and layout of this fortified residence from centuries past.

The castle was built in the 13th century by the Trier knightly family von der Brücke and first documented in 1303, when the Trier alderman Johann Walram, a member of that family, granted it as a fief to the Archbishop of Trier. It later passed as an Electoral Trier fief to the Luxembourg family von der Fels. Around 1440 Margaretha von der Fels transferred half the castle, by then also called a Schloss, to her husband Dame von Werde. In 1575 Luxembourg soldiers plundered and damaged it, and the Thirty Years' War left further destruction.

The castle passed by inheritance and pledge between the von der Brücke, von der Fels and von Werde families; around 1440 Margaretha von der Fels gave half the castle, by then also called a Schloss, to her husband Dame von Werde. In 1541 the brothers Georg and Arnold von der Fels were enfeoffed with it. The name Sommerau comes from the village below, and the ruin is now a listed monument.

The site is reachable by hiking trails that wind through the surrounding landscape and are easy to follow. You can also see a waterfall created where rock was once cut away to direct water toward a historical mill.

The rock spur was cut through at its narrowest point to use the Ruwer's water for a mill; the Sommerau waterfall now marks that spot. The castle's 16-metre bergfried also served as a four-storey residential tower, reached by a rising wooden walkway to a door about three metres up.