house at the corner of Obergasse and Mittelgasse
Sightseeing in the main town Many buildings have histories reaching back to the
Middle Ages. ;Neuleiningen Castle
Burg Neuleiningen is typologically of the model of
French castles of the so-called “castrum type” found in the
Île de France. It was built under Count Friedrich III of Leiningen-Dagsburg in the 1240s and is thereby one of the earliest castrum-type castles on German soil. From the castle's lookout tower one has an outstanding view of the
Upper Rhine Plain in the east and the
Palatinate Forest’s mountains in the west. The villages of Sausenheim and
Kleinkarlbach below Neuleiningen can be seen. In good weather one can also make out
Ludwigshafen,
Mannheim, the
Odenwald and even aircraft taking off from
Frankfurt Airport. ;Town fortifications The fortifications with their four towers were built in connection with the castle and likewise come from the 13th century. They were restored and expanded in the 15th century. Of the once three town gates, only the western one from the latter half of the 15th century is preserved. ;Saint Nicholas’s Parish Church The
Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus was built in the 13th century as a castle chapel at the same time as the castle itself. It is also called
Wallfahrtskirche der Gnadenmutter zu Neuleiningen (“Pilgrimage Church of the Mother of Grace at Neuleiningen”). The miraculous image at the festival of the Birth of Mary on 8 September is a
Gothic statue of
Mary with the
Christ Child in a mandorla. In the 15th century, the quire was expanded and the tower added. The single-nave inner space has after several restorations been thoroughly altered. Besides a
Baroque statue of
Saint Nicholas with his hand raised in blessing, the church houses several other Late Gothic wooden sculptures. ;Rectory The former
Wachenheimer Hof (1561, thoroughly altered), where the former castle administrators, the Lords of
Wachenheim lived, now serves as a
rectory. The complex was part of
Neuleiningen Castle’s outer bailey. ;Town Hall The town hall on Mittelgasse, like the adjoining church, belonged in the 14th and 15th centuries to the
Carmelite monastery
Zum Heiligen Kreuz (“To the Holy Cross”), which was dissolved in the
Reformation. In 1902, the municipality acquired the complex and converted it into its present form. Since 1957, the church, which was
Lutheran from 1555 to 1582 and thereafter a
synagogue until 1902, has once again been in
Evangelical hands. ;Timber-frame houses Well preserved
timber-frame houses (16th/17th century), some with oriel windows, characterize the village centre's narrow lanes, particularly the rows along the parallel Obergasse, Mittelgasse and Untergasse. ;Lion sculpture The lion sculpture standing on a column at the
Marktbrunnen (“Market Fountain”) on Mittelgasse from 1782 formerly bore the so-called
Fasseiche, an official standard for wine barrel measurement. Today it bears the arms of the
Prince-Bishops of
Worms. ;Market Fountain Below the
Marktbrunnen on Untergasse, the
Spülbrunnen (“Washing Fountain”) has been preserved. It caught water in a basin that had spilt out of the Market Fountain that was still suitable for washing wine barrels.
Sightseeing in Neuleiningen-Tal ;Eckbachweiher Upstream from (west of) the two mills, the Eckbach is dammed up to form the Eckbachweiher, a manmade lake. This once served on the one hand as a guard against flooding, and on the other hand as a water reservoir for running the mills even in time of drought. ;Obermühle The
Obermühle (“Upper Mill”), first mentioned in a document in 1615, is a former gristmill and papermill. In 1864 it was converted into a
porcelain and
earthenware factory that ended up in financial difficulties after the
First World War and had to be liquidated in 1937. The converted complex is used now, in the 21st century, by a forwarding company. ;Felsenmühle The
Felsenmühle (“Crag Mill”), standing roughly 300 m downstream, was first mentioned in a document in 1490. It is made up of the main house in the north, a dwelling wing in the east, a big, old barn in the south and the mill wing in the west. In the middle spreads a cobbled inner yard. The main house's ground floor sits one floor's height above the yard, which is reached by a double stairway built onto the middle. In the mid 18th century, the
Felsenmühle was bought at auction by miller Matthias Geißler, the owner of the
Obermühle after he put his craftiness to work: Instead of transferring his tailwater, as the last owner had, along a channel running parallel to the Eckbach and down to the
Felsenmühle, he had it flow right back into the Eckbach. Since this flowed by the
Felsenmühle about 50 m to the south, the lower mill was left high and dry, bereft of its very reason for existing. Geißler then acquired it and soon thereafter was running it himself. In 1749, he received approval for a wine bar at the mill. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it served various purposes: glaze making for the earthenware factory that was then running at the
Obermühle, then a bar, and in the
Second World War a prison camp. From 1994 it was once again an inn in which were also run a wine parlour and a
bed and breakfast. In the guest parlour, a gigantic undershot
waterwheel could be seen. After the innkeeper had to shut the complex down in 2004 owing to his advancing age, it stood empty and suffered damage from both frost and break ins. After being renovated, it has been open once again since the summer of 2007. ;Eckbachmühlen-Rad- und Wanderweg A section of the
Eckbachmühlen-Rad- und Wanderweg (cycling and hiking path) runs along the Eckbach, linking 23 of the region's mills, some of which have been restored. This includes the two described above. == Economy and infrastructure ==