Lichtenberg Castle

Walk Lichtenberg Castle from one end to the other and you cover almost half a kilometre. At 425 m long it is one of the longest castle ruins in Germany and the largest castle complex in the Palatinate. It sits on a hill spur above the village of Thallichtenberg in the district of Kusel. Unlike many Palatinate castles it is no heap of rubble: between its walls and gates stand a church, two museums, a youth hostel and a keep you can climb.

History: never captured, still a ruin

The castle is first mentioned in 1214, in a lawsuit: the Counts of Veldenz had built it illegally on land belonging to the Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims. It was supposed to be demolished but survived. When the Veldenz line died out in 1444, it passed to the Dukes of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, who held it until 1793.

Lichtenberg was a secondary residence, an estate farm and, until 1755, the seat of the local administration, which then moved to Kusel. In 1529 the reformers Zwingli, Oecolampadius, Bucer and Sturm stayed here on their way to the Marburg Colloquy. The castle was never taken by force; after the War of the Palatine Succession it was even the only castle in the Palatinate left undestroyed. It became a ruin only after a great fire on 26 October 1799. Just the castle church and the clerk's house, standing far enough from the main castle, were spared.

A curiosity followed the Napoleonic Wars: from 1816 the area belonged to Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and from 1819 the exclave was called the Principality of Lichtenberg after the castle. In 1834 it was handed over to Prussia. The castle has been a protected monument since 1895.

What to see

• Upper and lower castle: Originally there were two castles about 130 m apart. The upper castle was built in the late 12th or early 13th century on the highest point, the lower one in the 14th century at the tip of the spur. Around 1400 a shared curtain wall joined them.
• The keep: The square tower of the upper castle is about 33 m high and open as a lookout during the day. From the top you can see south as far as Kusel. The outside stair to the raised entrance was replaced by a metal staircase in 2016.
• Gates and bastions: Several gates in a row, outer walls and towers from the 15th and 16th centuries show how the side facing attack was reinforced. In the lower castle, the gatehouse with the original chapel above it is the most remarkable survivor.
• Castle church and tithe barn: Between the two parts of the castle stand the church of 1755/58 and the tithe barn of 1738.
• Geoskop prehistoric museum: This modern museum shows fossils from the Palatinate dating back some 290 to 300 million years, plus plate tectonics and the history of mining in the North Palatinate uplands.
• Palatinate Musicians' Land Museum: Housed in the tithe barn rebuilt between 1979 and 1984, it is devoted to the musicians' tradition of the West Palatinate.

Visiting and timing

A walk around the site including the tower climb takes about an hour; with both museums allow two to three hours. The museums have their own opening hours and admission prices, so check the castle website before you go. There is a restaurant and a kiosk on site, and a youth hostel in the outer bailey that has been running since the 1920s. The castle hosts concerts and other events, and couples can also marry here.

Getting there and parking

The castle lies between Thallichtenberg, Ruthweiler and Körborn, just under 4 km north-west of Kusel. A large car park sits east of the castle directly on the Burgstraße between Thallichtenberg and Körborn, just a short walk from the gate. Hikers can also reach the castle on forest paths from the surrounding villages; from Thallichtenberg it is a climb of about 100 m. There is a dedicated pitch area for campervans.