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The ruin of Drachenfels Castle is one of the impressive stops on the Palatinate Forest Trail, Palatinate
The Grimburg looks almost like a haunted castle. A fairy-tale apparition in the forest, a hint of Dracula’s Castle in the middle of the Hunsrück region between the Moselle and the Rhine. It is said that witches, or unfortunate women who had had confessions tortured out of them, waited for their death in the Witches’ Tower.
The persecution of witches took on a grisly scale in the deep forest, hence the opening of a Castle and Witch Museum in the village of Grimburg. It demonstrates the delusion of whole generations and persecution irrespective of confessions. Denunciation was rife, and even clerics ended up at the stake.
The museum is also home to pieces found in the castle two kilometres outside the village. It lay abandoned for many years and fell into a Sleeping Beauty slumber for centuries after it was destroyed and fell into ruins. In around 1980, it was rediscovered and partially restored.
Today, it is a popular destination for walks and excursions and the venue for a range of events. It plays host to weddings, medieval banquets and barbecues. The kitchen tower houses a real kitchen and there is accommodation in the entrance tower.
Grimburg Castle, Hunsrück
There is plenty going on, especially at the weekends when the weather is fine. There is a coffee and cake kiosk to welcome guests, and witch and knight games for the children. The castle keep can be climbed, and those that conquer the steep steps are rewarded with a panoramic view over the dense Hunsrück forest.
For a long time, the history of the village was deeply intertwined with that of the castle. It began in the 12th century, when the Lords of Saarbrücken had a castle built here for the first time. Kaiser Ludwig IV even gave the place a town charter while the castle was a state fortress for the Archbishops of Trier. In its heyday, it welcomed high society, and Kaiser Maximilian even came for a falcon hunt in the Hunsrück in 1512.
Its decline began in the Thirty Years’ War, and by the end of the Nine Years’ War (1688 – 1697), the Grimburg was no more than a shell. It was never inhabited again and the village was known as ‘Sauscheid’ until 1932. Then they reconsidered the old name and that of the castle, so there are now two places to visit called Grimburg: the ruins in the forest and the village with the Castle and Witch Museum.
A visitor discovering the Grimburg Castle, Hunsrück
Discovering Grimburg Castle, Hunsrück
