Klettenburg, castle

Klettenburg, also called Augustusburg, was a castle in Frankfurt's Praunheim district built around 1200 and likely surrounded by water on at least one side. It sat on a hillside on the eastern edge of a marshy valley called Steinbachtal, close to the village of Praunheim.

The Praunheim family, first mentioned in 1189 with Wolfram, a Frankfurt Schultheiß, built the castle; Henne von Praunheim, called Klettenburg, is credited with its construction. In 1676 Count Johann August of Solms-Rödelheim bought it from Johann Erasmus Seiffart von Klettenberg and renamed it Augustusburg. The castle was already dilapidated around 1760, when its remains were demolished; the last remnants were removed in 1791.

The castle was closely linked to the Praunheim noble family, whose legacy remains in local street names such as Augustenburgstraße and Im Burgfeld. These names keep alive the memory of the fortification and the lords who once ruled this area.

No visible remains of the castle exist today, as it was completely demolished by the 1700s. Its former location is remembered through street names and historical maps that can help visitors understand its role in the local landscape.

Roman stones and bricks were found in the masonry remains of the Klettenburg, but whether the castle stood on the site of a Roman villa rustica can no longer be proven. Around 1746 two illegible coats of arms with the year 1670 were said to be above the gate of the main building.