Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
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
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).