The location of this castle is unusual. Unlike most fortresses, it does not stand on a protective, barely accessible rock. The builders made up for this with an extremely massive construction and left behind an amazing fortification.
Typically Staufer is the humped ashlar masonry of the 12th century on the original preserved parts. The highest and best-preserved keep in the Palatinate is particularly worth seeing. From its 23-meter-high platform, one can look far into the Rhine plain. This was necessary because the castle was primarily intended to protect the Benedictine abbey in nearby Klingenmünster. Inside, a museum with artefacts and display boards provides vivid information about life in the castle. Impressive is also the way over the 11 meter deep outer moat into the kennel, where invading enemies could be taken under fire from the inner castle wall. The outer walls of the Zwinger were built in the 14th and 15th centuries, after the more long-range firearms were invented.
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