Burg Dalberg, Medieval castle ruin in Dalberg, Germany

Burg Dalberg, also called Dalburg, is the ruin of a hilltop castle above the village of Dalberg in the Gräfenbach valley. Its rectangular 60 by 45 metre layout has a higher western half with a 12-metre Romanesque bergfried, a four-storey residential tower and a palas, while the eastern half groups the 14th-century Langer Saal, the former Antoniuskapelle and two round towers around a courtyard with a cistern. The Dietherbau with its corner tower stands in the north-east quarter.

Godebold von Weyersbach built the castle between 1150 and 1170 on a spur above the Gräfenbach valley. In the 14th century the Kämmerer von Worms family acquired it and, by 1390 or 1400, held it alone; Dieter II and Dieter III added the Dieterbau and Dieterturm. Around 1560/1565 the family moved to Schloss Wallhausen in the valley, and in 1750 Hugo Philipp Eckenbert von Dalberg-Wallhausen had dilapidated buildings demolished for material.

The name Dalberg comes from the family that took the castle as a fief from the Bishop of Speyer in the 12th century. Since 1994 the Freunde der Dalburg association has cared for the ruin, and each year on the Day of the Open Monument it holds a castle festival with guided tours.

The ruins can be reached via marked pathways, and local tourism offices provide information about access. Sturdy footwear is recommended since the terrain can be uneven in places and requires careful walking.

Two stone pillars still stand in the neck ditch on the west side, the remains of a former water conduit that supplied the castle. The 60 by 45 metre rectangular site also kept a cistern in its inner courtyard, and patches of the original plaster survive on the surrounding walls.