sport facilities Zwingenberg has at its disposal a small sporting ground with grass and a complete athletics facility, a paved ground and a field. Moreover, there are several tennis courts and two sport halls. Rodau likewise has a grass playing field. For 2015, there are plans to build a modern sport park in which all locally played sports will be represented. Culture and sightseeing Zwingenberg lies on the edge of the Odenwald on the heights of the Melibokus on a relatively steep slope. The surrounding town wall is to a great extent still visible. The Obergasse (“Upper Lane”) is the old getwinc, the thoroughfare that led through the town's lower and upper gates. The street's alignment was only slightly changed after the fire of 1693 and still more or less shows the position of the old Bergstraße. The “New Pass” was until the 15th century still wetland. Today the B 3 runs here along the historic town wall through town. Between Schlößchen and Neugasse the remains of the town wall form the back walls of the houses and barns on Untergasse (“Lower Lane”) Including the outlying centre of Rodau, Zwingenberg has 81 cultural monuments under monumental protection. Buildings The town has a touristically attractive Old Town with timber-frame houses that are interesting both as buildings and as the history that they represent, a mountain church (Bergkirche) and a former castle seat, enfeoffed by Johann von Katzenelnbogen to Hans von Wallbrunn the Elder in 1420. At Zwingenberg's highest spot stands today's youth hostel, a former tithe barn built on a bastion’s foundation. Of the round corner towers of the upper town wall, only the Aul has been preserved. It is the northeast tower, a two-floor tower made of undressed quarrystones. The remains of the moated castle may well be Zwingenberg’s oldest building. Outwards from this about 1250, the town fortifications took shape. The “New Marketplace” arose at the beginning of the 17th century on the former moated castle's lands and the moat itself. The old Amtsgericht (“Amt court”) was built between 1561 and 1563 and restored in 1989. It originally served the Hessian landgraves as a hunting palace. The Schlößchen (“Little Palace”), built about 1520, has served the town since 1969 as the Town Hall. Next to it stands the former guesthouse Zum Löwen (“To the Lion”). It was built in 1595 and is the oldest building in existence outside the