In place of today’s castle there first was only a watchtower, built at a prominent location on the basalt rock, which served as border guards against the Count of Nassau in the West. This was expanded and by a (residential) Palas and supplemented by another tower.
The medieval castle could have looked something like this little picture with ‘Friedrichsturm’ (left, covered by the double-gabled Palas) and the s.c. ‘Alter Stock’ (right).
Originally, the castle probably consisted of these three buildings surrounded by a wall. Til today you can see the Friedrichsturm (watchtower), the Palas (with the Knight’s Hall) and the former castle keep (‘Alter Stock’) and thus recognize the old castle of the 13th century with its basic features.