Altdahn, an impressive rock castle visited by numerous travellers, is part of the imposing group of Dahn castles located in the Wasgau region, which also includes the Grafendahn and Tanstein complexes and whose eventful ownership histories are closely interwoven.
Until the beginning of the 14th century, written sources refer to the castle as "Than" without distinction, and it was only in the course of an inheritance dispute between the von Dahn family in 1327 that different names were mentioned. In the case of "Alt-Than", however, it is unclear whether the name refers to the later Altdahn Castle or to Tanstein. And the castle "Nuwen Than" is not Neu-Dahn, which appears in the sources in 1340 as "nuwenburg zu Than", but Grafendahn.
The family of the Lords of Dahn, which became extinct in 1603, is first recorded in written records in 1189 with Heinrich I, who is definitely a member of the ministerial family. He was presumably a feudatory of the Bishops of Speyer. It is uncertain whether he belongs to the imperial ministry. In 1265, the documents explicitly mention the castle "Than". However, as can be seen from the context of the document, it is Neudahn, while the group of castles on the Schlossberg in Dahn is first mentioned in 1288 in connection with a castle peace. In 1288, four knights, Konrad III Mursel, Johann I, Heinrich IV and Konrad IV von Dahn lived on the castle hill, so that we can assume the existence of an extensive group of castles, although the written sources provide no information about their structural beginnings. In 1365, Bishop Lambert von Speyer enfeoffed Count Walram von Sponheim with Grafendahn Castle, who in turn appointed a burgrave. A few years later, in July 1372, Alt-Dahn Castle is destroyed by a peace order because the noble servant Stophes, stepfather of Walter III von Dahn, is suspected of breaking the peace. Around 1400, a dispute between Walter III von Dahn and Count Simon III von Sponheim over the border area between the castles of Grafendahn, Alt-Dahn and Tanstein leads to the separation of the individual parts of the castle. In 1425/26, Altdahn Castle is damaged by fire during an inheritance dispute between Henry XI of Dahn and his cousin Margarethe. In the course of the Sickingen feud, Tanstein is besieged by the Count Palatine and the Archbishop of Trier and Henry XIII of Dahn, a supporter of Sickingen, is forced to surrender the castle. Tanstein remains with the Electorate of Trier until 1544. In 1603, the von Dahn family, who had favoured their castle in Burweiler as their residence since 1570, ceased to exist. With the exception of Grafendahn, which the von Fleckenstein family had repaired again in 1606, the Dahn castles had probably already fallen into disrepair by the end of the 16th century. Parts of Altdahn Castle, which, like the other castles, passed into civil ownership in 1793 and is now owned by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Burgen - Schlösser Altertümer), were considerably destroyed by a rockslide in 1820. (Jens Friedhoff)
There is no definite information on the origins of the castle. It was most likely founded in the second half of the 12th century. A tank cistern in the area of the upper castle is one of the oldest structures. In the first half of the 13th century, an elaborate hall and residential building was apparently constructed. Further structural changes and extensions followed in the 14th and 15th centuries. The late medieval buildings include the two semi-circular flanking towers on the rock of the upper castle, some of which have embrasures for firearms. It is unclear when the castle was abandoned. The Lords of Dahn favoured their noble residence in Burweiler as early as the end of the 16th century. (Jens Friedhoff)
The centrepiece of the upper castle is a two-storey hall and residential building measuring around 30 m x 8 to 12 m with a large fireplace in the hall (approx. 130 m²). Part of this building collapsed in 1820. The west wall was 2 metres thick and formed a kind of shield wall against the western castles. The north end of this wall is raised like a tower with entrances to the core of the privy. Two horseshoe-shaped flanking or gate towers and a shield wall with corner roundels in the east have also survived. Only traces of the spacious lower castle remain, including a filter cistern and a - now reconstructed - treadwheel. (Dieter Barz)
Wide neck moat on the north side of the castle rock. Remains of a shield wall made of small ashlars, perhaps from the first half of the 12th century; flanked by two younger round towers with humpback ashlars. In the adjoining lower castle, two massive, semi-circular gate and defence towers from the 15th century; one attached to the north side of the eastern rock, the other to the south side of the western rock; both reaching up to the platform of the upper castle. The path connecting them leads between the two rocks. The basement of both towers is adjoined on the inside by a guardroom hewn out of the rock with a central support. The lower castle is closed off to the west (towards Grafendahn Castle) by an originally higher wall with humpback ashlars that extends to the upper castle and continues there.
Stairs hewn out of the rock, partly interrupted by chambers, connect the upper and lower castles as well as the two halves of the upper castle. On the western rock are the palas and a slender tower clad in humpback ashlars. At the top of the eastern rock is a high platform that was originally built over (Jens Friedhoff)