Altenwied Castle

Altenwied Castle is a small spur castle in the municipality of Neustadt (Wied), district of Wied, in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Neuwied.

The castle is located in the northern Westerwald at 204 m above sea level, overlooking the Wied valley. Altenwied Castle stands west of Neustadt and the A 3 motorway on a rocky spur approx. 50 meters above the Wied, on the road Neustadt (Wied)–Linz am Rhein (Landesstraße 251).

The district town of Neuwied is 20 kilometers south, the nearest major city Bonn 25 kilometers northwest, Cologne 47 kilometers north-northwest, and the Rhine Valley 13 kilometers west (all distances as the crow flies).

The castle already existed at the beginning of the 12th century as the seat of Countess Kunigunde von Bilstein.

In the middle of the 13th century, it came into the possession of the Electorate of Cologne, along with the parishes of Asbach, Neustadt, and Windhagen, through Countess Mechthild von Sayn, and became the seat of the Altenwied office. The subsequent Nassau office of Altenwied (1806–1815) and the Prussian mayoralty of Altenwied (1817–1823) were also named after the castle.

During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was devastated by Spanish troops in 1633.

Today, the castle is privately owned and no longer accessible to the public.