Adolfseck Castle (Ruin)

The origins of Adolfseck Castle date back to 1356, when Count Adolf I of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein began its construction and received it as a fief from the Mainz Archbishop Gerlach von Nassau. Eleven years later, in 1367, Adolfseck was granted town rights. After Adolf's death in 1370, ownership passed to his son Count Walram IV, who handed the castle over to his brother Johann in 1386. When Johann became Archbishop of Mainz in 1397, the castle reverted to Adolf II, the nephew and son of the original builder. The Nassau complex served to secure the Bäderstraße and as protection against the County of Katzenelnbogen.