Castles of Dahn

The castles of Dahn (Dahner Burggruppe, literally "Dahn castle group"), near the little town of Dahn in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, consist of three rock castles:
 * Altdahn
 * Grafendahn
 * Tanstein

Geography
The so-called Dahner Felsenland area of the Wasgau, the region forming the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the northern part of the Vosges, has a large number of castles and rock formations. For example, four kilometres northwest of the castles at Dahn is Neudahn Castle and, close to the edge of the town, there are natural rock formations like the Jungfernsprung and the Braut und Bräutigam ("Bride and Groom").

History
The three castles were built next to one another, but not at the same time, utilizing five neighbouring rocks on a single ridge situated just under a kilometre east of Dahn. Their construction involved several generations of noble families from Dahn and lasted almost two centuries: Tanstein dates to the early 12th century; Altdahn to the early 13th century and Grafendahn to the late 13th century.

Similar castle groups
A similar arrangement of two or three castles clustered closely together may be found in several places in the south part of neighbouring Alsatian Vosges: the Dreistein at Odilienberg near Obernai, the three castles on the Schlossberg near Reinhardsmunster, the Drei Exen near Eguisheim and the castle group of Haut-Kœnigsbourg/Oedenburg.