How old is the town of Wolfstein in Germany?
4238935#13
Wolfstein was founded in 1275 on Habsburg King Rudolph I's orders, which called for a “fortified and free” town near his castle, “Woluisstein”, now known as the "Alt-Wolfstein" (“Old Wolfstein”) ruin. Rudolph forthwith granted the new town the same town rights and freedoms as the town of Speyer. As an “everlasting marketplace”, it was to be a sanctuary for commerce, trade and dealing. The first townsmen and -women came from the surrounding, much older villages.
Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
4238935#5
Spreading out from the old town (known as the "Flecken", meaning “market town”) in the hollow, the settled parts of town lay in the 19th century on the slopes between the Tauchental (dale) and Schlossgasse (or Obergasse – a lane), on the narrow strips of land either side of Lauterstraße (or Untergasse) and on Hauptstraße (“Main Street”, but in an outlying neighbourhood). Worth mentioning are several old buildings in Wolfstein: the Evangelical church (1868, beside the town hall), the Catholic rectory (1845, outside town centre), the Evangelical rectory (1899, outside town centre), the court and prison building (1902/1903, outside town centre) and the former "Kurhaus Lautertal" (spa hotel, 1862, renovated in 1912, outside town centre).
Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
4238935#11
Archaeological finds from both the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age on the Königsberg's and the Selberg's west flank, barrows in the Jungenwald (forest) at the town limits with Aschbach and Lohnweiler that have been explored and many finds of Roman coins with effigies of Roman emperors at the old Celtic settlement, which was once surrounded by a ringwall, on the Kreimberg at the town limit with Kreimbach-Kaulbach (known as the "Heidenburg", or “Heathen Castle”) bear witness to the presence of people in what is now Wolfstein in prehistoric times and early historic times. Leading over the ridge of the Königsberg was the “Roman road”, one of the Palatinate's oldest settlement roads. Nevertheless, there was never any Roman settlement within what are now Wolfstein's limits.
Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
4238935#19
The "Amtskellerei", whose mostly noble "Amtskeller" were charged with executing princely orders, was to be found at Neu-Wolfstein Castle, and after that was destroyed in 1688 by King Louis XIV’s troops in the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the "Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg", or War of the Palatine Succession), at a small house beside the old town hall at the foot of the Schlossberg; beginning in 1753 it was at the great building before the outer town gate (today the town hall) built on Elector Karl Theodor’s (1742-1799) orders from "Amtsgefällen" – "Amt" taxes. By territorial swap between the Elector and the Duke of Zweibrücken in 1768, the places within the "Schultheißerei" of Einöllen (Einöllen, Hohenöllen, Tiefenbach, Oberweiler, Roßbach and Sulzhof) passed to Electoral Palatinate and were assigned to the "Amt" of Wolfstein.
Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
4238935#32
After the 1849 Palatine Uprising, many people from the town emigrated to the United States. In connection with the 1832 Hambach Festival and the later Palatine Uprising, there is a story: On the republican-liberal citizenry’s side was the 23-year-old tanner’s son Jakob Krieger, who fled to the United States, where he founded a trade and banking company in Louisville. His daughter Amy married the Wolfstein banker Karl Otto Braun. On the other side was the State Procurator General at the court of appeal in Zweibrücken, Wolfstein-born Ludwig Schmitt, "Heidelberger Romantik" painter Georg Philipp Schmitt’s brother, and also Jakob Krieger’s cousin. Schmitt led the prosecution of the trials against the insurrectionists.
Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
4238935#20
The town’s days as an Electoral Palatinate holding came to an end when French Revolutionary troops occupied the lands on the Rhine’s left bank, including the town itself; by 1801, this territory had been annexed under the terms of the Treaty of Lunéville by the soon to be Napoleonic France. As early as 1797, Wolfstein became, in the course of administrative reform carried out by the French, a cantonal seat in the Arrondissement of Kaiserslautern and the Department of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German). Belonging to the canton were 32 municipalities with 8 mayors and roughly 8,000 inhabitants. The "Mairie" (“Mayoralty”) of Wolfstein comprised four municipalities with roughly 1,300 inhabitants; in the town itself lived 37 families and 311 persons. In 1814, the French withdrew from the Canton of Wolfstein.
Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
4238935#0
Wolfstein is a town in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Before 1 July 2014 it was the seat of the like-named "Verbandsgemeinde", since then it is part of the "Verbandsgemeinde" Lauterecken-Wolfstein. Wolfstein is known for its two castle ruins, "Neu-Wolfstein" standing over the heart of the town, and "Alt-Wolfstein" standing at the narrowest spot in the Lauter valley at the town's northern entrance. Wolfstein is a state-recognized recreational resort ("Erholungsort").
Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
4238935#62
Signposted paths open the Königsberg and its environs to the hiker. The "Glan-Lautertal-Höhenweg", part of the "Großer Westpfalzwanderweg" (“Great West Palatinate Hiking Trail”) leads through the town's municipal area. Hiking destinations of particular note are the Laufhauser Weiher (pond), the Neu-Wolfstein and Alt-Wolfstein castle ruins, the Eisenknopf (peak) with its pavilion, the "Zweikirche", the "Heidenburg" (“Heathen Castle”) on the Kreimberg, the Selberg (545 m above sea level) with its lookout tower and the gliderport near Eßweiler. Worth seeing in the town itself are the inn “Zur Alten Schenke”, which from 1590 to 1753 was the town hall, today's town hall, the former "Amtskellerei", which was once an administrative centre, the Schlossplatz (“Castle Square”) with its "Musikantenbrunnen", a fountain celebrating the local tradition of the "Musikanten" (see the Hinzweiler article – sections "History" and "Famous people" – for more about this), the remodelled Schlossgasse (“Castle Lane”) with its "Eulenbrunnen" (“Owl Fountain”) and the remodelling area around the "Alte Mühle" (“Old Mill”, on Mühlgasse).
Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
4238935#10
Yearly precipitation in Wolfstein amounts to 729 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 46% of the German Weather Service's weather stations, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in June. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in April. Precipitation varies only slightly and is spread extremely evenly over the year. Only at 1% of the weather stations are lower seasonal recorded.
Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
56169901#0
Old Wolfstein Castle (, also called the "Altes Schloß"), is a ruined hillside castle on the eastern slopes of the Königsberg at the narrowest point in the Lauter valley near Wolfstein in the county of Kusel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Old Wolfstein Castle