Metternich Castle
| Metternich Castle | ||
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 Metternich Castle from the southeast |
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| Alternative name (s): | Beilstein Castle | |
| Creation time : | around 1120 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Nobles | |
| Place: | Beilstein | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 6 '32 " N , 7 ° 14' 21.1" E | |
| Height: | 150 m above sea level NN | |
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The ruins of Burg Metternich are the ruins of a spur castle at 150 m above sea level. NN on a mountain spur about 60 meters high and steeply sloping on three sides above the local community Beilstein in Rhineland-Palatinate .
location
It is located in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate . The city of Cochem is 7 kilometers northwest, Zell 10 kilometers south and the next large city Koblenz 36 kilometers northeast. All information relates to the distance measured as the crow flies; the respective distances are significantly longer measured in terms of the river kilometers of the Moselle.
history
In 1268 a "castle called Beilstein" was first mentioned in a document. It was owned by Johann von Braunshorn , a fiefdom holder of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Contrary to the older view of a foundation that was presumed well before the first mention of the castle, more recent research on castles by Alexander Thon and Stefan Ulrich has shown that the castle was probably not built until the middle of the 13th century and thus a few decades earlier. After the von Braunshorn family died out in 1361 with the death of Gerlach without a male successor, the complex came into the ownership of his grandsons Kuno and Gerlach von Winneburg in 1363 .
The castle survived the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War with occupation by Swedish and Spanish troops largely unscathed. After the von Winneburg family died out, the castle came into the ownership of the von Metternich family in 1637 , from whom the castle still takes its name. In 1689, the castle was destroyed by French troops in the Palatinate War of Succession and was never rebuilt. The last owner of the Metternich line was Prince von Metternich until the French occupied the Rhineland in 1794 . After several changes of ownership, the castle ruins are now in the hands of the Sprenger-Herzer family .
today
The castle complex is quite extensive with a size of about 80 × 50 meters. Access is from the north through several kennels . The partially preserved ruins of various residential buildings suggest that the castle was inhabited by several families at the same time as a Ganerbeburg in the Middle Ages . The ruins are dominated by the 25-meter-high pentagonal keep , the point of which is directed towards the south-facing flank that is most vulnerable to attacks, the mountain spur, which rises even higher. The keep can now be climbed as a lookout tower . In the extensive ruins of the managed castle there is a restaurant with a beer garden. The castle can be visited daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from April to the beginning of November.
literature
- Stefan Ulrich: Arras, Beilstein, Bernkastel, Cochem and Thurandt. Observations on some Moselle castles. In: Castles and Palaces. Journal for Castle Research and Monument Preservation. 49, Issue 3, 2008, ISSN 0007-6201 , pp. 154-160.
- Alexander Thon, Stefan Ulrich: "Blown by the showers of the past ..." Castles and palaces on the Moselle . 1st edition. Verlag Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1926-4 , pp. 22-27.
Web links
- Homepage of the castle
- Entry for Beilstein Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Metternich Castle at burgenwelt.de
- Information at burgenreich.de