Altenburg (Blankenheimerdorf)

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Altenburg
Creation time : 13th century
Castle type : Niederungsburg, moth
Conservation status: partially preserved
Standing position : Ministeriale
Place: Blankenheimerdorf
Geographical location 50 ° 26 '0.9 "  N , 6 ° 36' 8.2"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 26 '0.9 "  N , 6 ° 36' 8.2"  E
Height: 545  m above sea level NHN
Altenburg (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Altenburg

The Altenburg was a medieval low castle of the type of a tower hill castle (Motte) on the outskirts of Blankenheimerdorf , a district of Blankenheim in North Rhine-Westphalia .

The lost castle lay in a swampy floodplain. A boulder up to 25 m high and about 100 m long rises in it. The rock was probably prepared to accommodate a castle as early as the 10th century, because the sides have been artificially separated. The Altenburg, which was originally intended to protect Blankenheim, was inhabited from the 13th to the 15th century. A ministerial family is on record until the 17th century.

The moat is still visible in the eastern part of the complex. The actual castle hill is now covered by rubble. The foundations of a large building suggest a fortified palas . A tower will have stood on the higher elevation. This main castle was surrounded by a curtain wall that almost completely collapsed.

Since the castle could be seen as impregnable, but could not be expanded, the noblemen built a new castle in Blankenheim .

literature

  • Harald Herzog: Castles and palaces, history and typology of the aristocratic seats in the Euskirchen district, Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-7927-1226-1 , p. 169.

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