Burg Fürstenberg
History
Burg Fürstenberg resides along the River Rhine near Rheindiebach in a picturesque setting overlooking vineyards and the river below. It's one of the numerous castles in the 50-mile stretch along the Rhine between Mainz and Koblenz, Germany, a section of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley that has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002.
The Archbishop of Cologne, Engelbert I, built the castle in 1219 to protect Cologne's property in the valleys around Bacharach. Together with a watchtower on the Rhine bank, it helped collect tolls from boats traveling along the river. Nearly 25 years later, in 1243, the castle passed to the Wittelsbach Counts Palatine as a fief of the archdiocese of Cologne, and in 1410, the Palatine electors bought it outright. In the 14th century, the castle saw conflict: King Louis IV of Bavaria besieged it in 1321, and Archbishop Balduin of Trier besieged it in 1325.
The keep and ruined walls above the vineyards.
Around 1500, a three-quarter tower was added to the western end of the curtain wall, allowing the wall to be covered by firearms.
It proved turbulent for Burg Fürstenberg in the 17th century. During the Thirty Years' War, Spanish troops under Ambrosio Spinola captured the castle in 1620, and Swedish troops under King Gustavus Adolphus took it in 1632. The French destroyed it during the Palatine War of Succession in 1689, and it has been a ruin for more than three centuries.
The castle high above the Rhine valley.
Unlike most castles along the Middle Rhine, Fürstenberg was not rebuilt in the 19th century. In 1844, Auguste, widow of King Frederick William III of Prussia, tried unsuccessfully to buy the ruin, and in 1845, her son-in-law, Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, acquired it. He gave it to his wife, Louise, in 1846, and she planned a lavish Neo-Gothic palace on the site, with plans drawn up in 1849, but the work was never carried out. The ruin passed to their daughter, Princess Marie zu Wied, and was sold in 1910 to the Wasum family of Bacharach. In 1993, Gernot Stelter of Rheindiebach bought it and, working with the state monument authority, began extensive conservation work.
Castle Highlights
Burg Fürstenberg is privately owned and not open to the public. However, it's worth taking pictures of the castle from the shoulder of the road leading to Rheindiebach or aboard one of the River Rhine cruise boats passing nearby.
The castle on its ridge among the vineyards.
The 13th-century circular keep represents the most predominant feature of the castle. It stands 26 meters high and about 10 meters across at its base, tapering upward, with walls four meters thick and no windows. The only original entrance was a doorway some 12 meters above the ground, and the ground floor was used for storage or as a dungeon. As the keep still retains remnants of original plaster, tourists can easily envision its former grandiose appearance during medieval times. The remains show three finishes: a greyish-white one from the 13th century, a multicolored scheme that probably included large heraldic shields, and the yellowish-white lime finish still visible today.
On the hill side, the castle was protected by a massive shield wall, up to ten meters high, and an artificial twelve-meter wide and 15-meter deep ditch. The ditch was once crossed by a drawbridge, which has since been replaced by a fixed bridge. East of the keep stood the residential building, three stories high and partly half-timbered, and parts of its walls survive up to the second floor, along with sections of the ring wall that protected the east flank.
