Burg Falkenstein

Burg Falkenstein stands in the municipality of Beuron, Germany, and it was erected by medieval German nobility.

The earliest phase of occupation is represented by material from Unterfalkenstein, where pottery dated to about 1100–1150 identifies that part of the site as the older element. During the 13th century a local knightly family took the name Falkenstein, and in 1274 a Cunradus Hasenbain appears in documentary records as a vassal of the Counts of Veringen. In the early 1300s ownership passed to the Counts of Lupfen, and throughout the 14th and 15th centuries the two castle complexes were treated as separate properties in legal transactions and could be sold independently.

By 1516 the lower site, Unterfalkenstein, is described in documents as a ruined castle and access to it was forbidden. In that year Gottfried Werner von Zimmern purchased the property from Wolf von Bubenhofen. In 1525 Gottfried Werner sold the main holding to his brother Johannes Werner while associated villages were partly sold to Sixt von Hausen. After 1528 Johannes Werner carried out further building. Under the Zimmern family in the 16th century the upper site was transformed into a Renaissance hunting and representational residence, with much larger windows fitted with leaded panes and a documented local supply of glass. In 1575 Wilhelm von Zimmern established a nearby game preserve.

The estate later passed with other Zimmern possessions to the Counts of Helfenstein–Gundelfingen and, when that line died out, it became part of the princely house of Fürstenberg by 1627. By the 1600s the ruin is described as uninhabitable. In the modern era archaeological work and conservation have recorded and stabilised much of the upper castle; excavations were carried out in 1978 and 1980, major conservation and safeguarding work took place between 1977 and 1989, further clearing and repairs occurred in 2006–2007, and selected finds from these campaigns were displayed in 2010. Finds from the late 1970s and 1980s are held by the regional monument authority in Tübingen and glass material is stored in the central finds archive in Rastatt.