Tavern on the Lahn (Lahnstein)
The Wirtshaus an der Lahn is an inn on the banks of the Lahn in Lahnstein and supposedly the setting for the legendary landlady verses .
There are numerous inns along the Lahn, some of which bear this name from historical times. Some of them claim to be the "real" inn on the Lahn from the famous song. Historically, the inn on the Lahn in Dausenau and the inn in Lahnstein come into consideration here . However, only the Lahnsteiner Wirtshaus has a customs tower that served as a watchtower and definitely plays a role in the verses.
Customs tower
The property in Lahnstein, which was quite large for its time, is based on a customs tower of the Electors of Trier from 1348, the so-called "Landfeste", which was first mentioned in 1373 in a document from the St. Kastor Abbey in Koblenz . On the bank in front of the tower there was a landing stage for the Lahn shipping, popularly known as the "port", although there was never a real harbor basin there. The massive structure was owned by the knight Konrad von der Porte von Boppard, who lived in Niederlahnstein . The tower protected the harbor and also the border between Kurtrier and Kurmainz , which ran along the Lahn. The Lahnuferstraße to Nassau also passed there. The location was therefore ideal for a customs post that was set up in the tower in 1565. The building is one of the oldest structures in Lahnstein.
Public house
The innkeeper Balthasar Kalkofen built the inn in 1697 next to the customs tower, which had previously stood alone. Many boatmen and carters came to the residential and restaurant building, which is located parallel to the Lahn and which still exists today . The three-storey building consists of massive quarry stone masonry on the ground floor, above which a half-timbered building rises. The round half-timbered customs tower with the curved roof and the characteristic roof lantern dates back to 1741. After the death of Balthasar Kalkofen, his widow Katharina continued to run the inn on her own until 1727. She could have been the "lady landlady" from the song . Guard soldiers from the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress did their duty in the customs tower and were probably the ones who composed and set the first six verses. The last stanza says:
Who came up with this song,
2 soldiers on watch,
1 drummer and a piper.
And if you can't sing this song,
start whistling it.
According to current estimates, there are up to 1,000 of the not always adult verses. Since the inn in Lahnstein was the only inn along the Lahn in which guards were stationed, it is assumed that it is the historical "Wirtshaus an der Lahn" from the verses.
On July 18, 1774, Goethe , Lavater and Basedow docked in Lahnstein on their boat trip from Ems to Neuwied and had lunch in the tavern on the Lahn.
Monument protection
The Wirtshaus an der Lahn is a protected cultural monument according to the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is located at Lahnstrasse 8 .
Since 2002 the inn on the Lahn has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley . Furthermore, it is a protected cultural asset according to the Hague Convention and marked with the blue and white protection symbol.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - Rhein-Lahn-Kreis. Mainz 2020, p. 53 (PDF; 6.2 MB).
Coordinates: 50 ° 18 ′ 31.8 ″ N , 7 ° 36 ′ 16.9 ″ E