Lahr Castle

The Storchenturm Lahr, also known as Lahr Castle, is the preserved remnant of a medieval moated castle and the landmark of the city of Lahr. It bears its name from the storks that regularly bred there until the 1960s and found food in the wetlands around the city.

The castle was a regular rectangular complex with four round towers at the corners, thus following the well-known late-Staufer type, as it also exists in Sicily with Castello Ursino in Catania and Castello Maniace in Syracuse. From this period, it otherwise only appears in Germany in the neighboring Dautenstein, a district of the municipality of Seelbach, and at Neuleiningen Castle. Lahr Castle was built by the Geroldseckers around the year 1220.

The Storchenturm was the north tower of the complex and today houses a small museum on the history of the moated castle. From its viewing platform, there is a beautiful panoramic view over the old town and the foothills.

The east tower was uncovered in the 1980s and is located in the basement of Café Kopf (Marktstraße, open during regular business hours). The foundations of the south tower were uncovered and removed in the 1960s during the construction of the department store, and the west tower was buried under a concrete slab in 2003.