Burgruine Albeck

Sulz am Neckar, Germany, Germany

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Burgruine Albeck, formerly called Burg Sulz, is the ruin of a medieval hilltop castle located 1.8 kilometers southwest of Sulz am Neckar on a mountain ridge at 548 meters above sea level in the Rottweil district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The site was first fortified by the Alemanni around 380, and after 910, Count Alwig I of Sulz is recorded as its rebuilder, with the Counts of Sulz first mentioned in 1095 as the castle's builders. Around 1250, the castle passed to the Lords of Geroldseck, who expanded it into its current form in the late 13th century, constructing the large rectangular palace (Palas) in French-influenced Gothic style between 1250 and 1270.

The fortress changed hands in 1471 when Duke Eberhard von Württemberg captured it after a siege, and Hans von Geroldseck and three of his sons were taken prisoner. The castle was completely destroyed on December 30, 1688, by a French raiding force using fire and explosives during the Nine Years' War. After the great city fire of Sulz in 1794, the castle's ring walls were quarried for stone to rebuild the town.