View of Schloss Ludwigseck

Ludwigseck Castle, which was once built as a fortified castle, is located on a basalt hilltop in the eastern foothills of the Knüll Mountains. The castle, completed in 1419 and named after the young Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse, was built by the knights and hereditary marshals of Rohrenfurth and the knights of Holzheim in competition with Hersfeld Abbey. They were given the area around the castle as a fief. Through inheritance, the castle became the representative property of the Riedesel Freiherr zu Eisenbach. Heavily damaged and uninhabitable in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), it was restored years later with the financial support of the landgrave. Since then it has been referred to as a castle. Only a few parts of the walls and cellars of the old castle have survived. Today's heir Thilo von und zu Gilsa lives in the castle with his family.