frames to absorb the recoil of early firearms. Their fishtail shape indicates that the wall dates to the first half of the 14th century. At the top they are flanked on both sides by polygonal turrets which replaced two earlier round towers. Below the shield wall is a moat cut out of the rock. A section of this measuring 18 by 13 metres is separated off and filled with water, doubling as a cistern. A stone bridge leads over the moat to the main entrance; the gateway is guarded by an embrasured turret above and leads to an elongated zwinger. Other structures The former boys' hostel is now called the longhouse. It has a ground floor of crushed stone and a Fachwerk first floor. The slate roof has a dormer on the courtyard side with a curved gable. What is now known as the tower building, formerly the girls' hostel, stands against the shield wall. It resembles the longhouse in its details. A walled platform cut out of the rock a little above the castle to the southwest is a post-medieval position for artillery aimed at the hillside which was an important part of the castle's defences after the introduction of gunpowder. Its precise date is unknown, but Matthäus Merian's 17th-century engraving shows that it existed by 1646. References Sources Gabriele Nina Strickhausen-Bode. Stahls Stahleck: Ernst Stahl (1882-1957) und der Neuaufbau von Burg Stahleck am Rhein. Braubach: Deutsche Burgenvereinigung, 2007, Stefan Grathoff, Burg Stahleck at regionalgeschichte.net External links Burg Stahleck hostel homepage Gallery Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Electoral Palatinate