door of the Burggrafs, which together with their castle passed by
purchase into the hands of the town (1427), there were various other
similar guard towers, such as the one which formerly occupied the
present site of the Luginsland, or the Hasenburg at the so-called
Himmels Thor, or a third which once stood near the Deep Well on the
second plateau of the Castle rock. But we do not know how many of these
there were, or where they stood, much less at what date they were built.
All we do know is that they, as well as the Burggrafs' possessions, were
purchased in succession by the town, into whose hands by degrees came
the whole property of the Castle rock. Above the ruins of the "little
fort" of the Burggrafs rises the first plateau of the Castle rock. It is
surrounded by a wall, strengthened on the south side by a square tower
against which leans the Walpurgiskapelle.

The path to the Kaiserburg leads under the wall of the plateau, and is
entirely commanded by it and by the quadrangular tower, the lower part
of which alone remains and is known by the name of Burgamtmannswohnung.
The path goes straight to this tower, and at the foot of it is the
entrance to the first plateau. Then along the edge of this plateau the
way winds southward, entirely commanded again by the wall of the second
plateau, at the foot of which there probably used to be a trench. Over
this a bridge led to the gate of the second plateau. The trench has been
long since filled in, but the huge round tower which guarded the gate
still remains and is the Vestner Thurm. The Vestner Thurm of Sinwel
Thurm (sinwel = round), or, as it is called in a charter of the year
1313, the "Middle Tower," is the only round tower of the Burg. It was
built in the days of early Gothic, with a sloping base, and of roughly
flattened stones with a smooth edge. It was partly restored and altered
in 1561, when it was made a few feet higher and its round roof was
added. It is worth paying the small gratuity required for ascending to