Germany · Ruin
Löwenburg and Philippsburg
Löwen- und Philippsburg
Two neighbouring medieval hill castles stand on a steep spur above the village of Monreal: the larger Löwenburg (also called Monreal Castle) and the smaller Philippsburg (locally "das Rech"). Both date from the 13th century; the site was damaged in the 17th century and survives today as accessible ruins. Major surviving elements include the tall cylindrical bergfried of the Löwenburg and fragments of the Philippsburg's tower and south wall.
Its prime
1400
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1400
What Löwenburg and Philippsburg looked like in its prime.
Perched on a grassy, steep hill spur above the Elzbach valley are two conjoined ruined castles: the larger Löwenburg with a dominant, cylindrical bergfried rising about 25 metres with very thick masonry and an elevated entrance, adjacent fragments of rectangular keeps and curtain walls, and a pointed shield wall protecting the tower; and the smaller Philippsburg with a surviving narrow tower and a restored south wall. Neck ditches and ruined chapel walls sit along the slopes.
Its story
The story of Löwenburg and Philippsburg.
Two ruined hill castles share a spur 350 metres up above the Eifel village of Monreal in the Elzbach valley: the larger Löwenburg, also called Monreal Castle, and the smaller Philippsburg, known locally as das Rech, "the Deer". Both date from the thirteenth century and were works of the counts of Virneburg; Count Hermann III built here, ironically, on the territory of his brother Philip, following a partition agreement.
Though Monreal lay in the Electorate of Trier, the Virneburgs always enjoyed good relations with Cologne, one was elected Archbishop of Cologne in 1306, at about sixty, and held the office for 26 years, and in the fourteenth century alone the family supplied six members of the cathedral chapter at Trier. Under Robert IV of Virneburg, lord of Monreal from 1384 to 1445, the estate was developed and the castle served several times as a dower house of the comital family.
By the early sixteenth century Monreal had replaced the ancestral castle at Virneburg itself, but when the line died out with Count Cuno's death in 1545, Henry of Leiningen succeeded as vassal. The castles were damaged in the seventeenth century; in 1815 the ruins were granted to Prussia, and today the tall cylindrical bergfried of the Löwenburg dominates the accessible ruins.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1400.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Löwenburg and Philippsburg, including 3 interiors: bergfried elevated entrance, summit of the bergfried (viewing platform), early gothic chapel (interior remains). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Löwenburg and Philippsburg.
The families that held Löwenburg and Philippsburg for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Virneburg
Built and held by the Counts of Virneburg until the line's extinction in 1545.
Leiningen
Henry of Leiningen succeeded as vassal on the Virneburg extinction of 1545.
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