Ruin of the Stein Castle

The castle was the ancestral seat of the imperial barons vom und zum Stein, whose family is first mentioned in a document in 1158 and whose most famous member was the Prussian reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl von und zum Stein. The construction date of the castle is unknown. The family held the castle as a fief of the Counts of Nassau. As a fortification in front of the castle, it was intended to protect the main castle of the Nassau family. In the early stages of the Thirty Years' War, the family moved its headquarters from vom und zum Stein to the former Zehnthof in the centre of Nassau, which it converted into Stein's castle. In 1636 the old castle is still reported to be in good condition. Towards the end of the Second World War, the remains of the castle were largely destroyed.