Burgruine Reichenfels, Medieval castle ruin and museum in Hohenleuben, Germany

Burgruine Reichenfels is a medieval castle complex with a museum section in Hohenleuben, featuring characteristic polygonal walls that rise several meters high and surround a deep moat. A stone bridge crosses this moat to reach the main structure of the complex.

The castle was probably built in the 12th century by the Vögte of Weida and passed to the Vögte of Gera in 1356. In 1550 the Burggrafen von Meißen zu Plauen acquired it, and in 1703 Count Heinrich XXIV. Reuß zu Köstritz bought it and moved the seat of the Amt to Hohenleuben. From 1804 Prince Heinrich XLIII. Reuß zu Köstritz began building a neo-Romanesque palace in the ruin; work stopped in 1811, the tower collapsed in 1872, and the buildings were demolished down to their foundations between 1900 and 1903.

The museum in the castle forecourt was founded in 1825 by the Vogtländischer Altertumsforschender Verein zu Hohenleuben, which has had its seat there since 1990. Its collection includes finds from small castles and hillforts of the early German, Slavic and Bronze Age periods, objects from the Hohenleuben palace demolished shortly before 1989, and a permanent exhibition on Georg Kresse set up around 1999. The Kressearchiv holds literature on the Vogtland and the former Reuß principalities.

The ruin sits about one kilometre west of Hohenleuben's centre on the Schlossberg, roughly 45 metres above the Triebes valley, and has been reachable since 1770 along a chestnut avenue. A continuous stone bridge now crosses the ring ditch into the core castle, where wall remnants stand 4 to 8 metres high. The courtyard in front holds the museum, the former economic building used as Burgschänke and hotel, and a small stage-like tent roof for rain-proof open-air events.

In the museum courtyard, finds from small East Thuringian and Vogtland hillforts of the early German, Slavic and Bronze Age periods are shown in historic display cases kept in their original state, effectively a museum within the museum. The building also houses the Kresse archive and a library on Vogtland and former Reuss history.