Altena Castle is a Medieval hill castle

Hill castle

A hill castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German Höhenburg used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location...

 in the town of Altena

Altena

Altena is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, in the northern streches of the Sauerland.-History:...

 in western Germany. The castle was erected by the early Counts of Berg - supposedly around 1108 or in the early 12th century. Eventually, the House of Berg abandoned Altena and moved their residence to Hamm

Hamm

Hamm is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of December 2003 its population was 180,849. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway...

.

In 1912, Richard Schirrmann

Richard Schirrmann

Richard Schirrmann was a German teacher and founder of the first youth hostel.Born in Grunenfeld , Province of Prussia, as the son of a teacher, Schirrmann studied to become a teacher himself. In 1895 he received his qualification, and was sent to Altena, Westphalia, in 1903...

 established the world's first youth hostel within the castle, which is still in use today (Jugendherberge Burg Altena).

Literature

• Ferdinand Schmidt: Burg Altena - Blätter der Erinnerung für Freunde und Besucher unserer Burg, Märkischen Burgverein, 1924
• Wilhelm Quincke: Führer durch die Burg Altena, 1968
• Ernst Dossmann: Auf den Spuren der Grafen von der Mark. 3. Auflage. Mönning, Iserlohn 1992, ISBN 3-922885-14-4, S. 164–168.

External links

• www.burg-altena.de