The sandstone capital with stylized acanthus leaves, now walled into the rectory garden of Ballweiler, is one of the few remaining architectural relics of Wecklingen's Renaissance castle.
For more than two centuries, a striking building dominated the small village of Wecklingen, located in a side valley of the Blies River – a structure of which no visible traces remain above ground. This is Wecklingen Castle, built in the Renaissance style in the mid-16th century and largely forgotten since then.
Built in 1555
Destroyed in 1618/48 during the Thirty Years' War
Demolished in 1793
Source and photos:
Stinsky, Andreas: Wecklingen Castle - A Lost Renaissance Country Estate, in: saar.geschichte 1.2017, p. 4ff, (n.p.) 2017