| Sayn Castle | |
|---|---|
Burg Sayn, Alte Burg, Burg Stein, Eselsburg | |
| Bendorf | |
 Sayn and castle ruins | |
  Sayn Castle  Sayn Castle | |
| Coordinates | 50°26′20″N7°34′45″E / 50.4389944°N 7.5793000°E /50.4389944; 7.5793000 |
| Type | hill castle,spur castle |
| Code | DE-RP |
| Height | 110 m above sea level (NN) |
| Site information | |
| Condition | ruins |
| Site history | |
| Built | from 1152, first recorded around 1400 |
| Materials | Quader, Bruchstein |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | counts |
The ruins ofSayn Castle (German:Burg Sayn), the 12th century family castle of thecounts of Sayn andSayn-Wittgenstein, are inSayn, part of the borough ofBendorf on theRhine, betweenKoblenz andNeuwied in the county ofMayen-Koblenz in the German state ofRhineland-Palatinate.
Theruins of thespur castle lie on the Kehrberg, ahill ridge about 110 metres long and 40 metres wide, in the foothills of theWesterwald, between the valleys of theBrexbach andSaynbach. Below the ruins, the village of Sayn stretches away to the south. At the foot of the castle hill isSchloss Sayn, aBaroque building dating to 1757.
Between theschloss and Sayn Castle there are two formercastellan residences: the 15th centuryMittlere Burghaus, which is joined to the castle by a wall, and the 14th centuryVon Steinschen Sitz (Stein Castle) of the lords of Stein fromNassau. Further east along the ridge there is the predecessor of Sayn Castle, theAlte Burg (“Old Castle”) from the 10th or 11th century, of which only a few remnants have survived.
Sayn Castle may be reached on the B 413 federal highway andLandesstraße L 306 which branches off in Sayn. At the castle is a large car park and another one just in front of the castle wall.
Whilst the southern, western and northern flanks of Sayn drop steeply into the valley, the flat hill ridge on the eastern side, from where the castle is accessed, is protected by a deep and wide artificialneck ditch. In order to provide additional protection a mightyshield wall with awall walk was built above the moat. In the northeastern area of the site stands a well preserved, roughly 20-metre-highbergfried, which dominates the appearance of Sayn Castle. The construction period of thebergfried, whose walls are 2.4 metres thick in the middle, dates to the late 12th century. A wall running south from thebergfried, also guarded by anallure, divides theinner bailey into two courtyards.
Excavations in recent times have revealed that thepalas originally stood on the south side of the smaller eastern courtyard, but was later moved to the western spur of the site. Today nothing is left apart from a 25-metre-deepcastle well and an octagonalstaircase tower. These excavations also uncovered thefoundation walls of acastle chapel at the southwestern corner in the form of asimultaneum with threeapses and its well preserved, ornately decorated floor dating to about 1200.
In front of the southernenceinte is a 90-metre-long and 20-metre-widezwinger, guarded to the east by a smalldefensive tower and to the west by abarbican. Here there is also a smaller gatewayzwinger and, further down the hillside, theMittlere Burghaus ("Middle Castle House"), which is joined to the inner ward by a wall. The excavations, carried out by the State Conservation Department, also exposed the original access track to the inner ward along the southern flank through the gatezwinger, which may now be used again.
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