Königstein im Taunus () is a health spa and lies on the thickly wooded slopes of the Taunus in Hesse, Germany. The town is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Owing to its advantageous location for both scenery and transport on the edge of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, Königstein is a favourite residential town. Neighbouring places are Kronberg im Taunus, Glashütten, Schwalbach am Taunus, Bad Soden am Taunus and Kelkheim. Geography Neighbouring communities Königstein borders – from northwest to east – on the communities of Glashütten, Schmitten, Oberursel, and Kronberg (all four in the Hochtaunuskreis), and from southeast to southwest on Schwalbach, Bad Soden and Kelkheim (all three in the Main-Taunus-Kreis). Constituent communities Besides the main town, which bears the same name as the whole, Königstein has three outlying centres: Falkenstein, Mammolshain and Schneidhain. Since 2001, Falkenstein has borne the designation (health spa) independently of the town's status as such. History Shrouded in legend, the town's founding date is unknown. The name 'Königstein' means 'King stone'. The local legend states that King Chlodwig (466-511), founded the town after building a castle on a hill as well as a chapel. Königstein had its first documentary mention in 1215, making it likelier that the castle was built around the 12th century for the town's – and the Frankfurt-Cologne commercial road's – security. Also in that time came the town's first lords, the Counts of Nürings, but they were supplanted in 1239 by the Lords of Hagen-Münzenberg into whose ownership the castle went as an Imperial fief. The Lords of Hagen-Münzenberg were in turn followed by the Lords of Bolanden-Falkenstein from 1255 to 1418, under whose rule Königstein was granted town rights in 1313. The Lords of Bolanden-Falkenstein were succeeded by the Lords of Eppstein, who were themselves followed by the Counts of Stolberg in 1535. It was they who introduced the Reformation to the area. By 1581, Königstein belonged to the Electorate of Mainz, which had incorporated the old County through a legal dispute. Early in the 17th century, in connection with the Counterreformation, the castle was remodelled into a mighty fortress, but this newer military stronghold met its end in the French Revolutionary Wars when the French blew it up in 1796, although this may have been unintentional. (Local legend has it that gunpowder was hidden in the castle's well, and a spark from a careless French soldier's pipe