Landeck was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a let-down, but the castle yielded some interesting design aspects along with effective restoration to maintain its medieval character.
The castle was extant prior to 1200, and by that time was considered a Reichsburg, or castle of the Holy Roman Emperor. The current structure was built in 1180 by the Graf von Saarbrucken,
By 1220, it was entrusted to the care of Emich IV, the Graf von Leiningen, head of one of the most powerful families in the region. This move created the Leiningen-Landeck branch of the family.
By 1290, the castle had been turned over to Lords of Ochsenstein and Zeibrucken-Bitsch. In 1416, the structure was expanded with the addition of an outer ringwall studded with five turrets. Soon afterwards, the castle was given over to charitable religious concerns in Speyer, being controlled by the Elector Palatinate. The castle survived the destruction of the Thirty Years War, though it was seized by Catholic forces under Leopold of Austria in 1622, only to fall victim to a French army commanded by General Comte de Melac, who destroyed the site and engaged in much rapine in the region. The ruins were restored in the 1800s, with the castle maintained after the 1880s by the Landeck Association.
These photos were taken in 2010.
Above, a view of the main gate from the opposite end of the bridge that spans the dry moat.
Right, a closeup of the reconstructed gate that includes the stone mount for the lower hinge of one of the doors.
Inset above right shows the worn coat of arms for the castle.
Above, left and right, two views of the dry moat. The one on the right was taken at the end of the bridge. The turret is one of the five built in the 1400s.
Above and above right, one of the cannon replicas at the site. The tube may be authentic, but the carriage is definately recent. In contrast, the shot recovered at the site are authentic. These would have been used for catapults and other early balista weapons.
Right, a view of one of the towers along the outer wall.
The view below is of two of the towers, these being on the southwest side of the castle. The ringwall, which gives the castle an oval design layout, is typically about 12 meters high and 1.5 to 2 meters thick.
Right, a view of the eastern living quarters from the south of the ringwall.
Below, a view of the eastern side of the outer wall, showing the protruding square battlement that was built here instead of a turret.
