Ehrenfels Castle (German: Burg Ehrenfels) is a ruined castle above the Rhine Gorge near the town of Rüdesheim am Rhein in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the steep eastern bank of the river amid extended vineyards. The grape variety Ehrenfelser is named after the castle.

It was (re-)built about 1212 at the behest of the Archbishop of Mainz as a defensive work against the constant attacks by Elector Palatine Henry V, who, as Imperial vicar of Franconia, strived to cut down the archbishop's reach. Mainz staffed the castle with Burgmannen and erected a customs post controlling the shipping on the Rhine, supplemented by the Mouse Tower below at the river. Heavily damaged in the course of the Thirty Years' War, the castle was finally devastated by French troops under the command of Lieutenant General Nicolas Chalon du Blé during the 1689 Siege of Mainz.

The ruin can be reached from Rüdesheim via a hiking trail through the vineyards. The interior however can only be visited in guided tours by prior appointment.

Ehrenfels Castle (Hesse)

Account

by category

Login

Name

by region

Title

Name in English

Klopp Castle (German: Burg Klopp) is a castle in the town of Bingen am Rhein in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. In the nineteenth century, the bergfried (similar to a keep) from the original medieval fortified castle was restored and a new building added which houses the town's administration.

History

The castle stands on a hill above the town with a wide-ranging view, which may have been the site of a Roman fortification built by Nero Claudius Drusus at Bingium around 10 CE. Drusenburg or Drususburg was an early name for the castle. The hill is one of three locations where local legend says that Emperor Henry IV was imprisoned by his son in 1105 or 1106, this being the first surviving mention of a castle there.

The last medieval castle on the site was built in the 13th century: possibly around 1281, possibly between 1240, when Kloppberg (Klopp Hill) is mentioned as the residence of a churchman, and 1277, the first mention of Burg Clopp. Together with Ehrenfels Castle on the opposite side of the Rhine and later the Mouse Tower, it enabled the Archbishopric of Mainz to exact tolls on river trade. In 1438 the archbishop sold the town and the castle to the cathedral chapter and the townspeople effectively controlled it. The castle was already decaying in the 16th century and was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War, but was rebuilt in 1653. The French destroyed it again in 1689 in the War of the Palatine Succession, and in the final phase of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713, the Mainz forces themselves blew up what was left to prevent its use by the enemy. Early 19th-century paintings show ruined walls, one connecting the castle to the town, but the castle itself levelled.

The state of Hesse acquired the ruin in 1815 and sold it to Hermann Faber, a lawyer. It was later owned by a Berliner called Rosenthal, who renovated the well. Both charged tourists to climb the gate tower as a viewing platform; Faber built a stairway up the outside of the walls and a viewing room at the top which he furnished with books of poetry, a comfortable sofa and a fully equipped writing desk, and laid out the grounds as a garden with romantic paths through the grapevines, trees and flowers. He also installed an aeolian harp. The castle was one of the major sights of the Romantic Rhine. J.M.W. Turner sketched a view of it from the River Nahe in 1844. By the end of the 19th century, some 75,000 entries had been made in the visitors' book.

In 1853 the gatehouse, the bridge across the moat and the fortifications were rebuilt for Ludwig Maria Cron. The bergfried was rebuilt as a crenellated tower 26 metres high, with four corner turrets. In 1875–79, a new Gothic building was built on the site. The architect for both was the mayor, Eberhard Soherr. The base of the bergfried, the moat and parts of the southern curtain wall and its chemin de ronde are the only remnants of the medieval castle.



Klopp Castle

Rheinstein Castle (German: Burg Rheinstein/Reinstein) is a castle near the town of Trechtingshausen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

The castle was constructed in about 1316/1317. Rheinstein Castle was important for its strategic location. By 1344, the castle was in decline. By the time of the Palatine War of Succession, the castle was very dilapidated. During the romantic period in the 19th century, Prince Frederick of Prussia (1794–1863) bought the castle and it was rebuilt.

Burg Rheinstein possesses a working drawbridge and portcullis, which are typical of medieval castle architecture and defences. The castle is open to the public. Just past the gift shop near the entrance is an opening on the left to the courtyard, which offers a spectacular view of the Rhine. Rheinstein's courtyard is known as the Burgundy Garden after the Burgundy grape vine growing there. The vine, which is approximately 500 years old, still produces grapes.

From the garden, steps lead down to the castle chapel. In the centre of the Gothic altar piece of the chapel there is a woodcarving depicting Jesus at the Last Supper. Between the rock and chapel, additional steps lead down to the royal crypt of Prince Frederick William Louis's family.

Heading upwards to the Burgundy Garden, another set of steps lead to the main part of the castle. The largest and most impressive room at Rheinstein Castle is located at the top of the stairway to the left once inside the castle. Known as the Rittersaal or Knight's Hall, it includes beautiful stained glass windows, as well as three-dimensional paintings. Rheinstein houses a cafe and gift shop offering miniature handmade wooden treasure chests, as well as traditional items including postcards and guidebooks for purchase.

Rheinstein Castle

The Brömserburg (also called the Niederburg) is located near the banks of the Rhine in the town of Rüdesheim am Rhein in Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the German state of Hesse. Its original structure was probably one of the first stone castles in the Rhine Gorge, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Construction

The older literature (from the 19th century to the 1980s) suggested the Brömserburg was built on the foundations of a Roman fort. However, no antique building fabric has been confirmed and, in particular, it remains unproven that, as previously assumed, it was a watchtower or the bridgehead of a crossing opposite Bingium (Bingen am Rhein) on the left bank of the Rhine. Since this fort was only built in the 4th century, the thesis is not conclusive, because the Romans had already withdrawn from the right bank of the Rhine after the fall of the limes.

Two construction phases are identifiable. Researchers do not agree on the dating of the first phase, theories ranging from an early medieval, royal Salhof, dating to before 980, to a mid-12th century castle complex. Examination of an alder post from the foundation of the southeast tower, which is considered to be the oldest part of the castle, showed that the tower could not have been built before 1044 and not after 1216.

The end of the 12th century (1186-1190) was the final period of construction for the second castle.

The shape of the castle, even during its first construction phase, corresponded largely to its present dimensions. It was protected by an enceinte and moats; in those days the Rhine flowed, according to historical engravings, immediately past its southern front - unlike today, where there is a road and wide riverbank zone between the castle and the river. However, the enceinte was thinner (1.6-1.7 metres) and lower than it is today. In the southeast corner there used to be a tower house (donjon), now gone. The tower diagonally opposite, which has survived, also originates from this first phase and served to defend the gate (gate tower) as well as acting as a bergfried. At that time, its height reached up to the upper edge of the present fighting platform.

During the second construction phase, the outer wall was reinforced, cladded with brick and raised. Other buildings were built onto the donjon up to the same height, and completely vaulted in up to four storeys (a unique design for a castle on the Rhine); thus a quadrangular structure was created. At the same time the courtyard was raised in height and, in the centre, a massive, new bergfried was erected which was joined onto adjacent elements of the second phase without any joints. Originally it had a wall thickness of more than 4 metres in the lower section and was estimated to be about 35 metres high. Due to the location of the entrance of the new bergfried - the elevated entrance is on the highest surviving floor) it is clear that the tower must have been much higher than it is today; it clearly rose above the adjoining buildings and thus gave the castle a much less "squat" appearance than it has today.

History

In the 13th century, the family of Brömser from the Wisper valley are recorded as castellans (Burgherren) of the castle within the territory of the archbishops of Mainz.

In 1640, the south-eastern corner, facing the Rhine, was blown up by French troops of Duke Henry II of Orleans during the Thirty Years' War, at the same time destroying the upper part of the bergfried and the donjon. A mine passageway was driven into the bergfried, but there was no explosion. It is still visible today.

The popular assertion that the Brömser von Rüdesheim family lived in the castle from 1548 until they died out in 1668, is wrong. What really happened is that, after the main line of the Rüdesheim family died out on the death of Melchior von Rüdesheim in 1538, the Brömsers gradually took over the Rüdesheim fief. The Brömsers never actually lived there, but always resided in their own house, the Brömserhof in Oberstraße 29 in Rüdesheim. After the Brömsers died out, the Archbishop of Mainz granted the fiefdom to Emmerich of Metternich, an heir of the Brömser von Rüdesheim family, in 1678. As the castle remained uninhabited, it fell into ruin in the 18th century and was initially nicknamed "Brömser's dog house", and, later, "Metternich's dog house".

After 1811, the new owners - the counts of Ingelheim - undertook a romanticised expansion of the castle into a country house. In the south wing, these features were removed again in the 1950s during a renovation.

The castle was lived in until 1937. In 1941 it was bought by the town of Rüdesheim. Since 1950, it has housed the Rheingau Wine Museum with exhibits of wine culture from antiquity to the present day. In 1961, the destroyed south-east corner was reconstructed and, in 1969, the keep was raised to a height of 27 metres.

Bromserburg

The Boosenburg is a lowland castle in Rüdesheim am Rhein, Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, Hesse, Germany, located in the Rhine valley and dating back to the 12th century. It is locally known as Oberburg (upper castle) in relation to the near and slightly lower Brömserburg. It has been part of the Rhine Gorge World Heritage Site from 2002.

History

The castle was probably built at the end of the 12th century as the family seat for the knight, Lord Fuchs of Rüdesheim, as a square building surrounding a very high, double stepped bergfried, protected by a rampart and moat. In late medieval times, additional living quarters were added. In 1407, the castle was left to the Brömser von Rüdesheim noble family. From 1474 to 1830, it belonged to the Boos von Waldeck noble family.

After the counts of Schönborn-Wiesntheid became owners in 1830, they tore down in 1836 all the buildings apart from the bergfried, which they built even higher, adding Gothic Revival merlons. The next owner, wine merchant Baptist Sturm, transformed the moat to a vaulted wine cellar. His widow erected a Gothic Revival villa, designed by Philipp Hoffmann, and completed in 1872.

The castle has belonged to a winery, Weinkellerei Carl Jung, from 1938. The musical family has arranged chamber music concerts in their residence. Carl's son, Hans Otto Jung, a founding member of the jazz group Hotclub Combo [de] in the 1940s, played there with notable musicians on two Steinway pianos. His son, Edu Jung, also active as a jazz musician, opened the venue also for concerts of the Volkshochschule (VHS, folk high school).

In 2002, Boosenburg became part of the World Heritage Site of the Rhine Gorge.

Boosenburg

Reichenstein Castle (German: Burg Reichenstein), also known as Falkenburg is a castle in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. It stands on a mountain spur on the eastern slope of the Bingen Forest, above the Rhineland-Palatinate municipality of Trechtingshausen in the Mainz-Bingen district in Germany.

History

The first mention of the castle occurs in 1213, when Philipp III von Bolanden was appointed “castellanus” and bailiff by the Kornelimünster Abbey at Aachen. Its purported capture in 1253 remains a subject of debate among experts, though there is no doubt that King Rudolph I of Habsburg besieged, captured, and destroyed the castle in 1282. At the time, Reichenstein was in the hands of unruly robber knights led by Dietrich von Hohenfels. Following its destruction, King Rudolph forbid the castle from being rebuilt, and according to legend, had Dietrich and his followers beheaded near Saint Clement’s Chapel (Clemenskapelle). In truth, it seems that, while his followers were hung from trees, Dietrich himself escaped.

In the period that followed, the ruins of Reichenstein remained in the possession of the Count palatine of the Rhine and were rebuilt. Ludwig IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, granted the castle to the Elector and Archbishop of Mainz in 1344. At that time, a new double wall was built surrounding an inner court containing a rectangular keep, and a forecourt was added to the north. It eventually began to fall into disrepair after 1572, when it became unprofitable for Anton von Wiltberg, chamberlain in Mainz, to maintain its upkeep.

Franz Wilhelm von Barfuss bought the ruins in 1834 and began the restoration. The family Kirsch-Puricelli purchased the castle in 1899 and completed the restorations in a neo-Gothic style. The family lived in the castle from 1902-1936. The current owner is a direct descendant of the Puricelli.

Reichenstein Castle (Trechtingshausen)

Sooneck Castle (German: Burg Sooneck) (also known as Saneck or Sonneck, previously also known as Schloss Sonneck) is a castle in the upper middle valley of the Rhine, in the Mainz-Bingen district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located near the village of Niederheimbach between Bingen and Bacharach.

Since 2002, Sooneck Castle has been part of the Rhine Gorge UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Recent research has established that the castle was probably first mentioned in 1271. Like neighbouring Reichenstein Castle, it was managed by the lords of Hohenfels as bailiffs for Kornelimünster Abbey near Aachen.

What is certain is that the castle was besieged in 1282 by King Rudolph I. His troops overran and destroyed the castle and the king imposed a ban on rebuilding it, which he explicitly restated in 1290. In April 1346 Archbishop Henry III of Mainz gave Sooneck Castle in fief to John, Knight Marshall of Waldeck, who subsequently had a new castle built on the site. After his death it passed jointly to four of his heirs and the castle thus became a multi-family property, or Ganerbenburg.

The branches of the family jointly residing in the castle were not on good terms and quarreled over inheritances. Several times, peace had to be legally imposed.

When the line of Waldeck died out in 1553 with the death of Philipp Melchior, the Breidbach zu Bürresheim family, previously co-tenants, became sole tenants of Sooneck Castle. When that family became extinct, the castle began to fall into disrepair.

In the course of the War of the Palatine Succession, Sooneck - like all the castles on the left bank of the Rhine - was destroyed in 1689 by troops of King Louis XIV of France.

In 1774, the Archdiocese of Mainz leased the ruins to four residents of Trechtingshausen who planted vineyards. The site later came into the possession of the village of Niederheimbach.

In 1834, the then crown prince of Prussia, Frederick William IV, and his brothers Princes William, Charles, and Albert bought the completely derelict castle and, between 1834 and 1861, had it rebuilt as a hunting lodge. In the rebuilding, which was designed by the military architect Carl Schnitzler, the historical structures were largely retained with the addition of buildings in romantic style. The Prussian royal crest over the north gate of the castle dates to this period. Disagreements within the royal family and the effects of the revolutions in Germany in 1848 prevented the castle from ever being used as a hunting lodge.

After World War I aristocratic properties were nationalized and Sooneck Castle became a possession of the state. After World War II it passed to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and in 1948 to the State Ministry of Castles (today Generaldirektion Kukturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz Direktion Burgen, Schlösser, Altertümer Rheinland-Pfalz). It can be visited on organized tours.

The residential areas of the castle are furnished predominantly with items in the neo-gothic and Biedermeier styles. The interiors are enriched by paintings owned by the Hohenzollern family and, since 1991, the Köth-Wanscheid family foundation, and drawings and sketches by Johann-Caspar Schneider among others.

Sooneck Castle

Schloss Schönborn (ehemaliger Stockheimer Hof) ist ein Renaissance-Adelshof aus der Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts in Geisenheim im Rheingau.

Hermann von Stockheim, der einem Geisenheimer Adelsgeschlecht entstammte, ließ den Hof 1550 errichten. Philipp Erwein von Schönborn, der Bruder des Mainzer Erzbischof Johann Philipp von Schönborn, erwarb das Gut 1652, das sich immer noch im Besitz der Grafen von Schönborn-Wiesentheid befindet.

Der Bau ist ein typisches Beispiel für den an Mittelrhein und Main vorkommenden, aus spätgotischer Form in die Renaissance überführten Typus des offenen Herrenhauses. Weitere Höfe ähnlichen Typus besaß die Familie Stockheim in Eltville am Rhein (heute Sitz des Weinguts Langwerth von Simmern) sowie den Stockheimer Hof in Idstein.

Der heutige Zustand des Anwesens geht im Wesentlichen auf Umbauten aus dem 19. Jahrhundert zurück: Der Frankfurter Architekt Heinrich Theodor Schmidt setzte 1875 auf den Steinbau zwei Fachwerkobergeschosse in historisierender Renaissanceform auf.

Um das Anwesen liegt ein ummauerter Weinberg (Clos).



Schloss Schonborn (Geisenheim)

In the course of time Burg Schwarzenstein, "occupy the apple tree crest on the way to Stephanshausen", as the land surveyors wrote in 1879 in the Stockbuch of Johannisberg. Three years earlier, in 1876, the Mumm von Schwarzenstein Family had a romantic castle reminiscent of medieval architecture converted into a summer residence by the architect F. Schädel.

The picturesque structure in a dreamlike location on the heights of the Rheingau, but without social or family life, changed in 1958 with the Sale of the Mumm winery to the Oetker family, including the ownership of the castle. The Hamburg architect Professor Caesar Pinnau, fascinated by the constructional fragment of the castle, designed in the interior of the castle a chic Restaurant to taste Mumm's wines, accompanied by selected dishes.

Since then the castle was renovated in style and elaborately and turned it into a woderful restaurant and hotel complex.

The Hotel Burg Schwarzenstein has been a member of the international association "Relais & Chateaux" since 2007.

Today whole complex is owned by the Family Foundation Burg Schwarzenstein.

https://www.burg-schwarzenstein.de

Burg Schwarzenstein

Schloss Johannisberg is a castle and winery in the village of Johannisberg to the west of Wiesbaden, Hesse, in the Rheingau wine-growing region of Germany. It has been making wine for over 900 years. The winery is most noted for its claim to have "discovered" late harvest wine. The castle is a venue of the Rheingau Musik Festival, made available by co-founder Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg.

A mountain on the north bank of the River Rhine near Mainz has been associated with the Church and with winemaking since the Dark Ages, when the estate of Ludwig der Fromme ("Louis the Pious") made 6000 litres of wine during the reign of Charlemagne. In 1100, Benedictine monks completed a monastery on the Bischofsberg ("Bishop's") mountain, having identified the site as one of the best places to grow vines. Thirty years later they built a Romanesque basilica in honour of John the Baptist, and the hill became known as Johannisberg ("John's mountain"). It was constructed on floor plans similar to that of its mother house, St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz. The monastery was a prime target for the Anabaptists in the German Peasants' War of 1525, and it was destroyed.

In 1716, Konstantin von Buttlar, Prince-Abbot of Fulda, bought the estate from Lothar Franz von Schönborn, started construction of the baroque palace, and, in 1720, planted Riesling vines, making it the oldest Riesling vineyard in the world. The estate changed hands several times during the Napoleonic Wars, but in 1816 Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, gave it to the great Austrian statesman Prince von Metternich.

In 1942, the Schloss was bombed and reduced to a shell by the air raids on Mainz in 1942. By the mid-1960s it had been largely rebuilt by Paul Alfons von Metternich-Winneburg and his wife Princess Tatiana, who had fled there on a farm cart in 1945 after the Russians had advanced on their other estates. Prince Paul died in 1992, leaving no heir, but a significant portion of his fortune to his mistress. With his death the House of Metternich became extinct. Although Princess Tatiana was allowed to reside in the Schloss until her death in 2006, the situation had forced her husband to sell the estate to the German Oetker family in 1974. There are currently about 35 hectares (86 acres) of vineyard.

Tradition has it that on one occasion a messenger from Heinrich von Bibra, Prince-Bishop and Abbot of Fulda, was 14 days late in bringing the papers to give the cellar master permission to start harvesting the grapes. At least two alternative stories exist to explain the delay. One is that the Prince-Bishop was away hunting and was not available to sign the permission to harvest, and the other is that he was intercepted and held by highwaymen. By this time the grapes had become affected with the "noble rot" Botrytis cinerea. The rotted grapes were then given to the local peasants, who ended up making wine of high quality. In 1775, Schloss Johannisberg made the first Spätlese Riesling followed by an Auslese wine in 1787 and an Eiswein in 1858. Unfortunately for the German tradition, the Tokay classification of 1730 relied in part on an area's propensity to noble rot, which suggests that the Hungarians got there first.

Schloss Johannisberg is a single vineyard designation (Einzellage) in its own right, and one of a handful historic German vineyards which do not have to display a village name on the label. Thus, the vineyard designation on the label is Schloß Johannisberger.

The 35 ha of vineyards consist of a loam-loess topsoil lying on Taunus quartzite. The soils are quite stony and gravelly, enabling them to retain the day's temperature and to buffer temperature fluctuations.

The estate offers guided tours with tastings, a wine bar, shop, and various special events.

The church of the castle, the Basilika, was originally built for the Benedictine monastery and dedicated to St. Johannes (St. John the Baptist). After the destruction during World War II it was rebuilt as a Romanesque basilica and has served as the Catholic parish church for the village Johannisberg. It is also used for concerts of sacred music, of local groups and for concerts of the Rheingau Musik Festival, such as a performance of the Huelgas Ensemble.

In 1999, combined choirs of Geisenheim and St. Martin, Idstein, performed Giacomo Puccini's Messa di Gloria and, in 2001, Rutter's Requiem and Benjamin Britten's The Company of Heaven for speakers, soloists, chorus and orchestra (1937, not performed again until 1989). In 2009, the Neue Rheingauer Kantorei performed Haydn's Die Schöpfung with soloists Elisabeth Scholl, Daniel Sans and Andreas Pruys.

The Ostflügel (East Wing) of the castle was rebuilt after the destruction to serve as a tennis court. Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg, a co-founder of the Rheingau Musik Festival, turned the hall into a public concert venue, staging 10 of the 19 concerts of the first summer season in 1988, and many recitals and chamber music performances every year following. After her husband's death the hall was named "Fürst-von-Metternich-Saal". von Metternich-Winneburg was "Vorsitzende des Kuratoriums" (president of the festival's curators) until her death. The tradition has been continued by the present owners. Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia for instance performed there in June 2012.

Schloss Johannisberg

In 1295, Archbishop Gerhard von Eppstein had the formidable Heimburg castle built in Niederheimbach.

Today, the Castle is in private ownership and not open to the public. However, the handsome walls can be admired from the RheinBurgenWeg trail which goes past.

In 1295, Archbishop Gerhard von Eppstein had the formidable Heimburg castle built in Niederheimbach. Severe war damage resulted in the castle complex falling into ruin in the 17th century. From 1836 onwards, several private owners followed in quick succession and one of these, Baron von Wackerbart, began with the development of the complex in 1866. Later the industrialist Eduard Rabeneck extended the core complex by the main residential building facing the Rhine, for instance, as well as by an administrational building in the Neo-Gothic style. During the development of the Castle in the 19th century, the orientation was not on the historical substance - instead, the owners created a landscape architecture in the style of villas. This gives Heimburg a special standing as regards the reconstructed and romanticised castle complexes on the Middle Rhine. Today, the Castle is in private ownership and not open to the public. However, the handsome walls can be admired from the RheinBurgenWeg trail which goes past.


https://www.outdooractive.com