14 AUG 18 Middle Rhine Scenic Cruising

After lunch, we went up to the sun deck for “Middle Rhine Scenic Cruising” with spectacular views of many castles and small towns with a commentary by Program Director Joey over the ship’s PA system. It seemed that we had no more passed one castle that Joey was telling us to look to our left or right for the next castle. However, his directions for left and right were from our point of view when cruising upstream, while the official terms left bank and right bank are relative to an observer looking downstream. Therefore, in identifying the following photos, Don decided to refer to the east bank (on our left) and west bank (on our right).

Our afternoon cruise was actually up the Oberes Mittelrheintal (Upper Middle Rhine Valley), which stretches from Koblenz, via the famous Lorelei rock, to Bingen and Rüdesheim. Since 2002, this upper half of the Middle Rhine, from Bingen (Rhine-kilometer 526) to Koblenz (Rhine-kilometer 593) has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Castles and vineyards take center stage. On the steepest riverbanks, grapes are harvested by hand, a tradition that dates back 2,000 years to when Romans introduced viticulture here. Now they are used to produce the famous Rhine wines (Rieslings, chardonnays, and other vintages). Later, medieval noblemen built soaring castles to oversee trade, collect tolls, and protect their realms from marauders and power seekers. Storybook villages, such as those preserved in Rüdesheim and Boppard, rose along forested shores. There were fascinating sites on both sides of the river.

Map of Rheinburgen (Rhine castles) on Upper Middle Rhine from Koblenz in the north to St. Goar and St. Goarshausen (from an old cruise brochure).

Map of Rheinburgen (Rhine castles) on Upper Middle Rhine from St. Goar and St. Goarshausen to Bingen and Rüdesheim in the south (from an old cruise brochure).

The castles that line both sides of the Middle Rhine have a long history. Many of them were probably built on the same sites where the Romans had built more than 50 forts around 10 BC. When the western half of the Roman Empire collapsed in the early 5th century, the Franks seized power, rebuilding and enlarging the forts abandoned by the Romans. When the Franks lost control of the area in the 9th century, a number of independent rulers emerged on the scene. Under these feudal lords, the great period of castle building began. During the 11th through 13th centuries, castles sprang up on virtually every hilltop. The Holy Roman Emperor authorized various feudal lords (including archbishops) to collect standardized tolls from passing cargo ships to bolster their finances. However, some unscrupulous feudal landowners known as Raubritter (robber barons) imposed unusually high tolls on Rhine traffic without approval from any higher authority. Some actually robbed merchants and river traffic, seizing money, cargoes, entire ships, or even kidnapped for ransom. During absence of Imperial authority in the period of history of the Holy Roman Empire known as the Great Interregnum (1250-73) when there was no Emperor, the number of such toll stations expanded. Eventually the merchants grew tired of paying high tolls or being robbed, and the Rheinischer Bund (Rhine League) was formed by 100 cities and various princes and prelates, all of whom had large stakes in restoring law and order on the Rhine. They organized an army that attacked and sacked most of the castles. This was the first of four great waves of destruction that occurred over a 500-year period. Next came the onslaughts of religious wars in 1582-86 and the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). The third and most decisive period came in 1688-89, when King Louis XIV of France, in his quest of Alsace-Lorraine, shoved his troops all the way to the Rhine to protect his armies from the rear. The fourth and final blow came in the 1790s shortly after the bloody French Revolution, when French invading forces swept across the Rhine into Germany and destroyed what was left of the fortresses.

Before starting this narrated tour of a little over 5 hours, we had already seen two of the northernmost castles of the Middle Rhine Valley, the Marksburg and Schloss Stolzenfels, on our bus ride to the Marksburg.

Tuesday, 14 Aug 2018, 1:58 PM – After Braubach: vineyards on steep hills beside Rhine.

The first town we passed was Boppard.

1:58 PM – Boppard: sign for “Boppard” on wall above the receded water on the west bank.

Don took photos of signs like this to keep track of the towns and help in keeping straight which castles we were passing.

Boppard (pop. 15,409) is a town and municipality in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) of the Rhineland-Palatinate. Archaeologists have found traces of a settlement dating back some 13,000 years. During Caesar’s conquest of Gaul and established a Roman settlement on the east bank of the Rhine, calling the place Vicus Baudobriga. The name is of Celtic origin, after the Celtic settlement “Bodobrica” that was here before the Romans came and called I vicus (open street settlement). In 405, the last Roman troops were withdrawn to defend Italy. The town’s next documentation was in 643, when Boppard was a Frankish royal estate and an administrative center of the Bopparder Reich (Boppard Realm, a Merovingian state). In the early 13th century, Boppard was proclaimed independent under the reign of the Holy Roman Empire, and it remained a free imperial city until 1309, when Emperor Heinrich VII gave it to his brother, the Archbishop and Elector of Trier. The townsfolk of Boppard tried to struggle against what they saw as a foreign ruler, and in 1327 they set up their own town council. However, the Archbishop quickly quelled this challenge to his authority. The people tried again, unsuccessfully, several times until hostilities ceased in 1497. After that, Boppard became a relatively insignificant country town. In Napoleon’s time, French troops occupied Boppard from 1794-1814, when all the lands on the Rhine’s left bank belonged to France. In 815, the Congress of Vienna assigned this territory to the Kingdom of Prussia. Even after WWI, the Rhine Province, including Boppard still belonged to Prussia. Although the town was not the main target of any air strike in WWII, bombs were nevertheless dropped on it. Since 1946, Boppard has been part of the then newly created German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

2:19 PM – Boppard: tower of Kurfürstliche Burg (Electoral Castle) aka Alte Burg (Old Castle) and twin towers of St. Severus Church (telephoto 93 mm).

The Kurfürstliche Burg (Electoral Castle) aka Alte Burg (Old Castle) is a castle and residence built by the Archbishop-Electors of Trier to consolidate their grip on the area. The central keep, with its apertures for pouring boiling oil, molten lead, and the like, was built around 1327, while the more civilized-looking wings were added in the 17th century.

The Boppard’s dominant building is the late Romanesque Severuskirche (St. Severus Church) on the Marktplatz (Market Square). The twin-towered church, brightly painted in white and yellow, was built during the 13th century to house the remains of St. Severus, Bishop of Ravenna.

Across from Boppard, on the east side of the Rhine, was Kamp-Bornhofen.

2:23 PM – Kamp-Bornhofen: two churches (former Klause Kamp, now Hotel Kurfürst, on left and St. Nikolaus Church on right) near Rhine-kilometer 569 marker sign (at left) (telephoto 156 mm).

Kamp-Bornhofen (pop. 1,609) is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn district of the Rhineland-Palatinate. It was first mentioned in documents from 926 to 949 AD, referring to it as Camp. The name Kamp is derived from the Latin campus (field). The change of the first letter from C to K took place in 1936. The municipality of “Burgenhoven” was first mentioned in 1110, suggesting that it was related to the Burg Sterrenberg castle above it. That name later morphed into Bornhofen. The history of the pilgrimage site Bornhofen goes back to the year 1110, when it was a Frankish manor house below the Burg Sterrenberg; a Gothic pilgrimage church was built there in 1391-1435. From 1312 to 1803, the two towns were subject to the Archbishop of Trier. They fell under the Duchy of Nassau in 1805 and the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866. By the end of the 19th century, the two towns had grown together, and in 1948, the local council decided to change the name to Kamp-Bornhofen. The Kamp part of the town is below the well-known Burg Liebenstein.

The Klause Kamp (Kamp Cloister) was originally built as an Augustinian nunnery and parish church. When it fell into decay and could no longer be used as a church, a residence was built on the site. What now stands there is the Hotel Kurfürst (Elector Hotel). Just the old church tower and the old Gothic gateway were restored with care.

The present Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus (St. Nicholas Parish church) was built in 1902-04 as a Neo-Romanesque basilica with west tower. Before that, Masses were celebrated in the old Nikolai Pfarrkirche, built in 1251 and destroyed by fire in 1954, all but the west tower that had been built in 1870 to replace the original Romanesque tower.

2:25 PM – Kamp-Bornhofen: two churches (former Klause Kamp, now Hotel Kurfürst, on left and St. Nikolaus Church on right) (mild telephoto 63 mm).

2:26 PM – Kamp-Bornhofen: gray stone Rathaus with ship’s mast bearing flags in front of it, next to half-timbered Weinstube & Pension Salzig, near large sign for “Kamp-Bornhofen” (telephoto 105 mm).

The Rathaus (City Hall) in Kamp-Bornhofen, built ca. 1853-54 now (since 1968) houses a Flösser- und Schiffermuseum (Rafting and Shipping Museum) with a ship’s mast in front of it near Rhine-kilometer 568.6.

2:26 PM – Kamp-Bornhofen: gray stone Rathaus with ship’s mast bearing flags in front of it, next to half-timbered Weinstube & Pension Salzig, near large sign for “Kamp-Bornhofen” (telephoto 187 mm).

Near Kamp-Bornhofen, we would pass the legendary Burg Sterrenberg and Burg Liebenstein.

2:30 PM – Kamp-Bornhofen: our first glimpse of Burg Sterrenberg above town (telephoto 156 mm).

2:33 PM – Kamp-Bornhofen: Burg Sterrenberg above town (telephoto 119 mm, vertical).

2:32 PM – Kamp-Bornhofen: Burg Sterrenberg on hilltop (telephoto 250 mm).

2:35 PM – Kamp-Bornhofen: Burg Sterrenberg (left) and Burg Liebenstein (right) above town (telephoto 93 mm).

MT 2:32 PM – Kamp-Bornhofen: Burg Sterrenberg (left) and Burg Liebenstein (right) above town (telephoto 84 mm).

Burg Sterrenberg on hilltop (By giggel, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59942298).

Burg Sterrenberg in Fall – protected on the side from which attacks were expected by two shield walls; the later, outer shield wall is 9.3 m high (By Rolf Kranz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6341194).

Burg Sterrenberg - aerial view showing spacing between the remains of the two shield walls; (By Roland Todt - Author's own work, transferred from German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=337596).

Burg Sterrenberg (Sterrenberg Castle) and Burg Liebenstein (Liebenstein Castle) are known as the “Feindliche Brüder” (Hostile, Enemy, Adversarial, or Feuding Brothers), after a German legend that arose in the 16th century. Numerous sagas deal with the two feuding brothers. The simplest (and sweetest) version is that the castles were built as a result of a feud between two noblemen who had fallen out over the favors of the same princess. Another, still simple, version is that two descendants of an old king built two castles in the course of a dispute about their inheritance. The two castles were built almost side-by-side, closer together than any other castles on the Rhine. The best-known version of the legend tells of two sons of a count, whose names were von Sterrenberg and von Liebenstein and who cheated their blind sister when they divided up their father’s inheritance. The sons still feuded among themselves and built two separate castles on adjacent hills. They also built the so-called “Streitmauer” (Feud Wall), a massive 2.5-meter-thick shield wall between the two castles. The sister used her smaller share to have a cloister built at the foot of the castles.

Burg Sterrenberg (left) and Burg Liebenstein (right) (By Tk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11530737).

However, there is a longer and probably more reliable (political) explanation for the origins of the two castles (found primarily at http://www.rheintourist.de/sehenswertes/sterrenberg/sterrenberg.php):

The story began when Burg Sterrenberg was built in order to protect the toll point in the village of Bornhofen. It is one of the oldest mountain castles on the Rhine. By 1034, Sterrenberg was mentioned as an imperial castle, but the source is not certain. In 1190, the castle is listed as a fief, together with the toll point in Bornhofen. The noble family of Bolanden stayed as lords of the castle from 1190 until the second half of the 13th century. From this early period, the Bergfried tower and the first, inner Schildmauer (shield wall) have survived. In 1268, the estate was divided between the brothers Werner and Philipp von Bolanden. When Philipp died in 1286, his share was transferred to his successor, a minor with a guardian, and Werner tried to undo the division. In 1288, the guardian refused and, when his ward died early, two sisters inherited his share. One of the sisters married Albrecht von Lewenstein. To protect the property of his wife, he had the higher-lying Burg Liebenstein built from 1284 to 1290. At the end of the 13th century, the Counts of Katzenelnbogen took over Burg Sterrenberg. At the beginning of the 14th century, a second ring wall was built to protect against Burg Liebenstein. Around 1313, there was a conflict with the Archbishop of Trier, who laid claim the castle, and the village of Bornhofen was destroyed. In 1320, Burg Sterrenberg, along with the toll point on the Rhine, fell to the Archbishopric; the lords of Sterrenberg retreated completely to Burg Liebenstein; and the two castles were in an irreconcilable state of enmity. The erection of a second massive shield wall at Burg Sterrenberg provides architectural documentation of how deep the ideological trench between the two groups was. For the next 50 years, Burg Sterrenberg was the center of the Archbishop’s lands on the right (east) bank of the Rhine; during this time, there was a long-lasting family quarrel between the family branches in the castles of Sterrenberg and Liebenstein, from which the legend of the Feuding Brothers originated. After that, the castles lost their importance to Burg Maus, a bit farther south. At the end of the 14th century, the defensive wall was built between Burg Sterrenberg and Burg Liebenstein. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Burg Sterrenberg fell into disrepair after that family branch was extinct. In 1456, it was described as “dilapidated,” and in 1568 as old, dilapidated, and uninhabited. In the following years, it was used as a quarry. In 1806, its ownership passed to the Dukes of Nassau and in 1866 to Prussia; since 1945 it has belonged to the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Burg Liebenstein, built in the 13th century, is also above the village of Kamp-Bornhofen. From 1340, it already served as a Ganerbenburg (gan in Old high German meant common or joint, and Erben means heirs), a Burg (castle) occupied and managed by several families at the same time, usually sharing common areas (such as courtyard, well, and chapel) but with separate living quarters. In this case, a group of noble families lived together in a castle complex due to the distribution of an estate. Thus, Burg Liebenstein united several small castles of about 10 families living in different buildings as a consortium. The Ganerben buildings can still be made out today at Burg Liebenstein, where a hotel and restaurant have been integrated since 1977, following extensive refurbishment.

Burg Liebenstein (By Phantom3Pix - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44370259).

Burg Liebenstein – aerial view (By Roland Todt, edited by Sir Gawain - Based upon the photo File:BurgLiebenstein.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=337593).

Both castles were destroyed by the French in 1688. Towers and parts of walls are all that remain. The ruins of Burg Sterrenberg now serve as an event site for conferences, weddings, etc., with guest apartments. Since 1995, Burg Liebenstein has been a small family-run Hotel Castle Liebenstein.

MT 2:34 PM – Burg Liebenstein (telephoto 145 mm).

2:39 PM – Bad Salzig: view back to Burg Sterrenberg (left) and Burg Liebenstein (right) (mild telephoto 56 mm).

The next town, on the west side of the Rhine, was Bad Salzig.

2:38 PM – Bad Salzig: church behind houses, with sign on wall for “Bad Salzig” (mild telephoto 63 mm).

Bad Salzig (pop. 2,589) is part of the municipality of Boppard. The name means “salty bath,” since it is a spa town with a spring that dispenses slightly salty water. It is located on the historic Roman Rhine road, which went from Mainz to Cologne. A Roman index of places from 215 AD includes a village called “Salissone,” but it is uncertain whether that is today’s Bad Salzig. When the Franks took over the former Roman territory, Salzig was part of the “Bopparder Reich” (Boppard Realm). In 922, the place “Salzachu” (derived from Old High German salz [salt] + -aha [water])was mentioned for the first time. The spellings of the name changed several times until it was finally called Salzig in 1787. (It has only been called Bad Salzig since 1925.)

In 1309-1312, Salzig was directly subordinate to the king. In 1312, King Heinrich VII pledged Salzig (along with Boppard, Oberwesel, and other villages) to his brother, the Archbishop of Trier, and it remained under his successors until French Revolutionary troops occupied it in 1794. Off and on from the early 17th century until 1814, Salzig was under French control. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, it was assigned to Prussia.

The Kirche St. Aegidius (St. Giles’ Church) is a Gothic Revival pseudobasilica, built in 1899-1902. It preserves a 15th-century Late Gothic west tower.

2:39 PM – Bad Salzig: ship’s mast with flags at end of ramp, Rhine-kilometer 566 marker to right of ramp, and church at far right (mild telephoto 56 mm).

2:39 PM (Cropped) – Bad Salzig: ship’s mast with flags at end of ramp and Rhine-kilometer 566 marker to right of ramp.

MT 2:36 PM – Bad Salzig: Don drinking water on sun deck.

Soon we came to the next town, Kestert, on the east bank.

2:51 PM – Kestert: approaching town on east bank.

Kestert (pop. 573) is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn district of the Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a 1,200-year-old traditional village of mariners and wine-growers. In 755, Fulda Abbey came into possession of several vineyards located “ultra Rhenum ad Castrionis” (on the Rhine at what is now called Kestert). Prior to that, there may have been a Roman outpost here. In 1110, the Archbishop of Tries donated a hospital to “Kestene.” Around 1190, the village paid tithes to Werner von Bolanden and the tithe was later transferred to the lords of Sterrenburg. From 1327 to 1803, Kestert came under the sovereignty of the Archbishop-Elector of Trier. After that, it was assigned to the Duchy of Nassau.

The St. Georg Kirche (St. George Church) was destroyed by fire in 1437 and rebuilt; it would not have been a very large building, since Kestert was a small community. When that church was dilapidated, the present church was built in 1778-79, originally in the Baroque style. The slender west tower has a pointed “helmet,

2:54 PM – Kestert: town with church and Gasthaus Krone (with brown balconies) at Rhine-kilometer 567 (mild telephoto 49 mm).

The next town, on the west bank, was Hirzenach.

2:57 PM – Hirzenach: town with church and sign on wall for “Hirzenach” (telephoto 105 mm).

Hirzenach (pop. a little over 300) is a municipality in the Rhein-Hunsrück district of the Rhineland-Palatinate state. The town is over 1,000 years old. It was originally an imperial town granted to the manorial estate of Siegburg Abbey in 1109. The grant came with the obligation to build a monastery here, resulting in Hirzenach Abbey, the provost of which became the lord of the village. Over the next centuries, the privilege of protecting the property of the provost fell to various noblemen, including Philipp von Bolanden in 1267, the lords of Sterrenberg in 1294-1310 and again 1370-87, and the Archbishop of Trier’s steward of Burg Sterrenberg). The name comes from the Old High German hir(u)z (modern German Hirsch = stag) or possibly from the personal name Hirzo, plus Old High German/Middle High German ouwa, ouwe (German Aue = meadow).

The view of the town is dominated by one of the oldest convents of the central Rhineland. It consists of the former Benedictine provost church and the accompanying provost building, gardens preserved in Baroque style, and a former parish church, now used as a residential house.

The parish church Kirche St. Bartolomäus (Church of St. Bartholomew) is the former Benedictine provost church. It is a Romanesque columned basilica, possibly begun soon after 1110. The nave, apse and the tower’s lower floor are from the first quarter of the 12th century. The west façade and the tower’s upper floors are from the early 13th century (about 1220-1230). The church has been profaned since the 17th century and is currently a residential building.

The former Provost’s Rectory is a stately Baroque building with a mansard roof showing a triangular gable on the side toward the Rhine. The building dates back to the second half of the 18th century.

2:57 PM – Hirzenach: town with church, to its right the Baroque former provost’s rectory, and sign on wall for “Hirzenach” (telephoto 93 mm).

Next, on the (north-)east side of the Rhine was the town of Ehrenthal.

3:11 PM – Ehrenthal: town with restaurant Zur Klosterschenke and Pfarrkirche St. Sebastian behind it, with Burg Maus on hill at right, and tower of church in Wellmich at lower right (telephoto 105 mm, vertical).

Ehrenthal, at Rhine-kilometer 560, is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn district of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The place was first mentioned, as “Erintra,” in 881. The Ehrenthal Monastery was established when several monks and the abbot of the Gronau monastery moved here in 1542.

The next town was Wellmich, also on the (north-)east side of the Rhine.

3:18 PM – Wellmich: St. Martin church and Burg Maus on hill (telephoto 119 mm).

Wellmich was first mentioned in a document of 1042. In the 12th century, it was owned by the Counts of Arnstein and their successors, the Counts of Nassau. In the 14th century, the king gave it as a fief to the Archbishop of Tries, who was given the right to fortify the village and build two castles by Emperor Karl IV in 1356. He built the Deuerburg, better known as Burg Maus. Wellmich remained in the possession of the Archbishop-Elector of Trier until the 19th century, when is passed to the Duchy of Nassau and in 1866 to Prussia. Since 1969, Wellmich, along with the neighboring Ehrenthal, belongs to St. Goarshausen.

The St. Martin Church was probably built soon after the middle of the 14th century. Its laterally shifted west tower probably also originated from that time. On each side of the top floor of the tower are two pairs of ogival openings.

Above the village of Wellmich was Burg Maus.

3:19 PM – Burg Maus: on hill (telephoto 218 mm).

MT 3:25 PM – Burg Maus: on hill (vertical) (telephoto 145 mm).

3:20 PM – Burg Maus: on hill (telephoto 156 mm).

Burg Maus (Mouse Castle) is located above the village of Wellmich on the left (east) side of the Rhine. It is north of Burg Katz (Cat Castle) in Sankt Goarshausen and opposite Burg Rheinfels at Sankt Goar across the river.

Burg Maus (By RThiele - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4151862).

In 1356, the Archbishop-Elector of Trier began to construct a castle above the village of Wellmich, after he had received judicial rights there. His successors continued the construction for the next 30 years. Their purpose was to enforce Trier’s recently acquired Rhine River toll rights and to secure Trier’s borders against the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, who had built Burg Katz and Burg Rheinfels. The new facility was actually called Peterseck (or St. Peterseck) and served as a counterpart to a planned castle on the left (east) bank of the Rhine, for which the name Petersburg was intended. However, the latter castle never came about because it was against the policy of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen. Only Peterseck was completed in its first phase of construction until 1362. Local folklore attributes the name Burg Maus to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen mocking the Electors of Trier during the 30 years of construction, reportedly saying that the castle was the “mouse” that would be eaten by the “cat” of Burg Katz.

Burg St. Peterseck, also called Thurnberg, Thurmburg, and Deuernburg or Dürenburg, became one of the preferred residences of the Archbishops of Trier in the second half of the 14th century. At that time, it was more like a castle in the sense of a princely residence than a fortification. However, the ability to defend the castle was by no means ignored. Around 1380, further construction on the Deuernburg was conducted. Burg Maus later became the seat of the Trier Electoral office.

Burg Maus (aka Thurnberg) and Wellmich in 18th century (By Ferdinand Luthmer - Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler der Kreise Unter-Westerwald, St. Goarshausen, Untertaunus und Wiesbaden Stadt und Land. Keller, Frankfurt am Main 1914 [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38171402).

Unlike its two neighboring castles, Burg Katz was never destroyed. However, since the 16th and 17th centuries, the castle was neglected and gradually fell into disrepair. In the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) it no longer served as a fortification. After the dissolution of the state of Trier in 1806, Burg Maus was auctioned off for demolition, but this did not happen. In 1904-06, a Cologne architect expanded it in the style of late Rhine Romanticism. The surrounding walls were still well preserved pretty much with their original appearance. The most obvious change was the rebuilding of the high, hipped roofs. The flat roofs correspond to the ruined-castle style of the 19th century, which can also be found at Rheinstein, Stolzenfels, Sooneck, or Reichenstein on the Middle Rhine. The round tower of the Bergfried (keep), however, is unhistorical, built in the 1920s to make the tower appear higher, perhaps in preparation for a conical roof. After much neglect, Burg Maus has been owned by private individuals for almost a decade and a half, and the owners have been able to repair much of the artillery damage from WWII.

The Dürenburg was one of the most advanced castles of its time. Architecturally, it is one of the finest fortifications along the Rhine. On the eastern (attack) side is a strong shield wall with a southeastern corner tower, projecting with five sides, and a northern, octagonal corner tower. The round main tower stands in the middle of the shield wall, guarding the vulnerable side facing uphill. A Zwinger (fighting walkway) runs around the outside, pointed on the attack side and protected by a moat carved into the rock of the cliff. The inner courtyard contains two residential buildings.

Next, we came to the town of St. Goar and Burg Rheinfels, on the west bank.

3:26 PM – St. Goar and Burg Rheinfels on hill (mild telephoto 72 mm).

Sankt Goar is located at a site where, in Roman times, a military road led through this district. Presumably, there was a ferry that connected the two shores of the Rhine. The town is named after Goar, a monk from Auvergne, who founded a Christian hostel and a small church around 550 in the small fishing community here. After he died in 575 or 611, his grave became a much visited pilgrimage site, attended by a college (community) of clerics (Stift). The Counts of Arnstein were the Abbey’s stewards (bailiffs) of the church and the town in the 10th century, and in the late 11th century the Counts of Katzenelnbogen became sub-stewards to the Arnsteins. When the Arnstein line died out in 1185, the Counts of Katzenelnbogen managed to bring the place under their military and jurisdictional authority. The toll station they established there, first mentioned in 1219, became an important source of income for them. Burg Rheinfels, founded in 1245, ensured military protection of this realm, making the old castle of the Arnsteins irrelevant. When the Katzenelnbogen line died out in 1479, the Counts of Hessen inherited it. When those counts introduced the Reformation into their lands in 1526, the Stift of Goar was dissolved and the pilgrimages halted (the Stiftskirche, which contained the saint’s crypt, is now a Protestant church). St. Goar came under French administration in 1794-1813. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna granted it to the Kingdom of Prussia and became the capital of the St. Goar district. In 1972, St. Goar was incorporated into the Verbandsgemeinde (unified district) St. Goar-Oberwesel, with headquarters in Oberwesel.

3:35 PM – St. Goar: Evangelische Stiftskirche with Hotel Café Hauser to its left and Hotel am Markt to right (telephoto 93 mm).

The history of the Evangelische Stiftskirche (Protestant Collegiate Church) goes back to the 6th century, when a cell or college of clerics (Stift in German) continued the work of the saint in the small Marian chapel and hospice he had built. In 765 King Pippin donated the cell of St. Goar to the Abbot of Prüm for his personal use. The Abbot was very motivated to build a new church, which was consecrated in 781 at the latest. Around 782, King Karl der Große (Charlemagne) converted that into a donation to the Prüm Abbey itself. The Abbey received the income from the economic power of the Goar cell, and in return provided protection and maintenance, as well as providing for pastoral and worship service. Eventually, the Abbot appointed stewards (bailiffs) to care for the cell and protect his worldly affairs. The first stewards, in the 10th century, were the Counts of Arnstein, followed by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen (see the account above under St. Goar). At the end of the 11th century or the beginning of the 12th, the three-naved crypt was erected, and the walls of the choir (apse) and the foundations of the towers flanking the choir were probably completed. The choir and its towers were completed by the middle of the 13th century. The highlight of the history of the Stiftskirche was a large rebuilding initiated by the Count of Katzenelnbogen in 1444. In painstaking work, a large extension of the nave was added to the choir, and its design showed a splendor of which the church today bears only timid witness. Finally, in 1449, the Abbot sold the rights of the Abbey to the Katzenelnbogen family, and it passed to the Counts of Hessen in 1479. In 1524, the Count of Hessen was the first German prince to embrace the Reformation, and in 1526 he issued the Hessian Reformation Order making the Evangelisch (Protestant) Church the official church of his lands. However the St. Goar Stift continued as a legal entity, and the Count could only dispose of its clerics as they either renounced their vows or died. So it took several more decades before the cell became extinct. However, the veneration of saints and the pilgrimages were ended, and the crypt with the tomb of St. Goar lost its significance.

3:34 PM – Burg Rheinfels: view looking back from St. Goarshausen (telephoto 105 mm).

The ruins of Burg Rheinfels (meaning Rhine Rock) are above the town of St. Goar. This sprawling structure on the hilltop was built in 1245, replacing an earlier castle in the valley built by the famous robber baron, Count Dieter von Katzenelnbogen. In 1251, the Abbot of Prüm gave the castle to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen as a fief. So impregnable was the Rheinfels that, in 1255-56, when the troops of the Rhine League (9,000 soldiers with 50 ships) laid siege to it in an attempt to dislodge the robbers and abolish the Rhein toll, it withstood the onslaught for more than a year. The castle was expanded in the 13th and 14th centuries as a residence for the Counts of Katzenelnbogen. It was during that time (1370) that the castle received its “Butterfassturm” (butter-churn tower) as an addition at the top of its Bergfried (keep). That addition made this the highest Bergfried of a hill castle on the Rhine, 54 m high at the intermediate platform. However, that tower was destroyed in 1797, except for a sparse remnant of its foundation.

Rheinfels Castle in 1607, with the highest butter-churn tower on its Bergfried (Public Domain as https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BurgRheinfels1607.jpg).

In the 14th and 15th centuries the castle was the cultural center of the house of Katzenelnbogen, a courtly life unique for the Rhineland. After their line died out, the castle passed to the Counts of Hessen, who expanded it into a fortress after the impression made by cannon fire in the siege of Boppard in 1497. Then, in the late 16th century, they transformed it into a Renaissance palace. In 1621, there was a surprise attack by Spanish troops, but the Counts of Hessen regained control in 1626. A French army of 28,000 failed to dent the walls in 1692. In 1734, it withstood another attack. In 1758, however, the garrison was surprised in its sleep, and the French army grabbed it without a struggle. In 1794, the castle was handed over, without a fight, to French Revolutionary troops. In 1797, the French blew up the Bergfried and the Palas (residence) and tore down the outside walls. Along with St. Goar, the castle remained under French administration until 1813. Starting in 1818, the castle served as a quarry for the reconstruction of the Ehrenbreitstein fortress near Koblenz. In 1843, Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia bought the medieval part of the ruins, but his plans to rebuild a part as a garden castle were not realized. Since 1925, the castle has been owned by the city of St. Goar. Although the ruins visible today represent only one-third of the complex, it is still one of the largest and most significant castle ruins on the Rhine. Part of it is now restored as the Romantik Hotel Schloss Rheinfels.

Burg Rheinfels: view from the Rhine (By Keith Jensen - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21126869).

Burg Rheinfels: view from west (toward the Rhine) (By Johannes Robalotoff - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11249292).

3:28 PM – Burg Rheinfels on hill above St. Goar (mild telephoto 72 mm).

MT 3:24 PM – Burg Rheinfels on hill above St. Goar (mild telephoto 91 mm).

MT 3:26 PM – Burg Rheinfels on hill above St. Goar (mild telephoto 91 mm).

3:30 PM – Burg Rheinfels on hill above St. Goar (mild telephoto 44 mm).

3:31 PM – Burg Rheinfels on hill above St. Goar (mild telephoto 56 mm).

MT 3:29 PM – Burg Rheinfels on hill above St. Goar (mild telephoto 58 mm).

The next town, on the east side of the Rhine, was St. Goarshausen.

3:32 PM – St. Goarshausen: approaching town, with Burg Katz on hill behind.

3:32 PM (Cropped) – St. Goarshausen: town, with (left to right) Evangelische Pfarrkirche (white), Pfarrkirche St. Johannes (gray), and Round Tower and Square Tower of the former city wall, and Burg Katz on hill behind.

Sankt Goarshausen lies on the east bank of the Rhine. The entrance to the town is near the Lorelei and above the town is Burg Katz. The settlement of St. Goarshausen began in the 6th century, when the monk Goar settled on the opposite side of the river. The rights over the still insignificant district of St. Goarshausen were awarded as a fief by the Archbishop of Trier. Starting in the 12th century, the lords of Arnstein and of Isenburg (1185) appear as Trier’s stewards. St. Goarshausen was first documented in 1222. In 1276/77, Ludwig von Isenburg promised his daughter “Husen aqud sanctum Goarum” as part of her dowry. In 1284, she married Count Wilhelm I von Katzenelnbogen, so that family took control of the fief. In a court document of 1313, the place was referred to as “Sant Geweshusen,” and in 1324 the village of “Husen” (from the Old High German Hus, for modern German Haus, house) it was elevated to the status of a city. For protection, since Burg Katz was not built until 1393, the town was fortified with a wall and two towers. In 1358, Wilhelm II of Katzenelnbogen received permission from the Emperor to set up a toll office in Goarshausen, a permission which the Archbishop of Trier succeeded in getting abolished in 1378. After the extinction of the house of Katzenelnbogen in 1479, St. Goarshausen passed to the Counts of Hessen. In 1801, the entire left (east) bank of the Rhine was ceded to Napoleon; so St. Goarshausen became French. From 1807, it was part of the Kingdom of Westphalia. After the Congress of Vienna (1815), St. Goarshausen, along with the entire right (west) bank came under the Duchy of Nassau, which retained ownership until 1866.

The Evangelische Pfarrkirche (Protestant Parish Church) was built in 1860-63 on the site of an older church that was demolished in the course of railway construction. The plastered exterior with inset west tower was added in 1963 and 1968.

The Pfarrkirche St. Johannes (Parish Church of St. John) was built in 1923-35, with a Baroque hall (nave) and a dome-topped west tower.

St. Goarshausen: Round Tower (left) and Square Tower (right) of old city wall, with Burg Katz on hill behind (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Goarshausen_-_Flickr_-_tm-md.jpg Originally Posted to Flickr by tm-md at https://www.flickr.com/photos/28224460@N00/9342213090).

St. Goarshausen: Square Tower of old city wall, with Burg Katz on hill behind (Von Johannes Robalotoff - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8304310).

The city fortification was probably begun after St. Goarshausen was given the status of city in 1324, but also could have been in conjunction with the construction of Burg Katz around 1360/70. Still preserved today are the two towers on the Rhine front, which received new roofs, plaster, and paint in 1975 and 1979. The “Runde Turm” (Round Tower), also known as Marktturn (Market Tower) or Westturm (West Tower), on the north end, with a transition to octagonal shape above the arched frieze, is a scaled-down image of the Bergfried of Burg Katz; so it probably comes from the 14th century; it still serves as a clock tower. The “viereckige Turm” (Square Tower), also known as Ostturm (East Tower), forms the southern end of the medieval city wall and flanks the upper city gate located there. Above the cellar rose four inhabitable stories and a defensive platform. The entrance was on the first (U.S. 2nd) floor, connected to the battlement of the city wall. The upper rooms were reached via a spiral staircase on the northwest corner, which protrudes and towers over the eaves. The defensive platform also protrudes over the round-arch friezes.

3:34 PM – St. Goarshausen: town, with (left to right) Evangelische Pfarrkirche (white), Pfarrkirche St. Johannes (gray), and Round Tower of the former city wall; and Burg Katz on hill behind (mild telephoto 63 mm).

3:36 PM – St. Goarshausen: sign on river wall for “Loreleystadt-St. Goarshausen” (Lorelei city – St. Goarshausen), with Round Tower of the former city wall at right and Burg Katz on hill behind (mild telephoto 56 mm).

MT 3:32 PM – St. Goarshausen: Round Tower of the former city wall at left and Burg Katz on hill behind (mild telephoto 64 mm).

3:36 PM – Burg Katz: on hill above St. Goarshausen (telephoto 156 mm).

Burg Katz: west view (By DXR - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35862550).

Burg Katz (Cat Castle), on the right (east) side of the Rhine above St. Goarshausen, was first built by Count Johann III von Katzenelnbogen in 1393. Actually, the castle was called Burg Neukatzenelnbogen (New Katzenelnbogen Castle) to distinguish it from Burg Alt-Katzenelnbogen, the family’s ancestral castle in Nassau, but the name was shortened to Burg Katz in the common usage. Thus, it is popularly linked to the nearby Burg Maus (Mouse Castle). The castle was used as a bastion and military base to protect the nearby Burg Rheinfels, since together they formed a barrier for levying the Rhine toll. It is of compact layout, consisting of a great hall and a massive Bergfried, originally 60 m tall, on the uphill side. In 1435, the Counts of Katzenelnbogen were the first to plant Riesling grapes in their vineyard.

Burg Katz (aka Neukatzenelnbogen) above St. Gotshausen: engraving from 1655 (Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1986576).

Due to its location on a mountain ridge, the castle could not possibly be conquered from the valley. Only after the invention of firearms, the castle had to be substantially reinforced. It resisted all invaders until it was bombarded and destroyed in 1806 by Napoleon’s troops. It was restored in 1896-98, as close as possible to the original design, and is now private property and closed to the public, except for the Hotel Burg Katz.

MT 3:33 PM – St. Goarshausen: sign on river wall for “Altstadt & Burg Katz” (Old City & Burg Katz), with Burg Katz on hill above (mild telephoto 57 mm).

4921 Tuesday, 14 Aug 2018, 3:37 PM – Burg Katz: showing Bergfried on uphill side (telephoto 156 mm).

After St. Goarshausen and Burg Katz, we came to the Lorelei.

3:39 PM – After St. Goarshausen: Lorelei statue on island in Rhine (telephoto 105 mm).

3:39 PM (Cropped) – After St. Goarshausen: Lorelei statue on island in Rhine (telephoto 105 mm).

The Lorelei (Loreley in German) is a steep slate rock, 132 m (433 ft) high, on the right (west) bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen. The name comes from the Old German word lureln (Rhine dialect for “murmuring”) and the Celtic term ley (“rock”). The heavy currents and a small waterfall in the area created a murmuring sound that, combined with a special echo the rock produces to act as a sort of amplifier, gave the rock its name. Other theories attribute the name to the many boating accidents on the rock, by combining the German verb lauern (“to lurk, lie in wait”) with the same Celtic ley, with the translation “lurking rock.” After the German spelling reform of 1901, in almost all German terms, the letter “y” was changed to “i,” but some proper nouns, including Loreley kept their “y,” which is thus the correct spelling in German.

The Lorelei is the site of one of the Rhine’s most delightful legends. She was a river siren who is said to have lured sailors to their deaths with her singing. Although there is nothing to see but a sheer cliff of gray volcanic rock, her legend attracts millions who are lured by her echo—a phenomenon induced by tourist voices when the wind is right.

The rock and the murmur it creates have inspired various legends. One old legend envisioned dwarfs living in caves in the rock. In 1801, the German author Clemens Brentano wrote a ballad that told the story of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lore Lay, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. The bishop sends her to a nunnery, accompanied by knights, but on the way there they come to the Lorelei rock and she asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. Thinking she sees her lover in the Rhine, she falls to her death, and the rock retained an echo of her name. In 1824, the German poet Heinrich Heine adapted Brentano’s theme in one of his most famous poems, “Die Lorelei.” It describes a sort of siren who, sitting on a cliff above the Rhine and combing her golden hair, unwittingly distracted shipmen with her beauty and song, causing them to crash on the rocks. Heine’s words were soon set to music and became a popular folk song. It is true that the Rhine is very deep and narrow at this point, making it one of the most dangerous places in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, and there have been many boating and shipping accidents on this treacherous curve.

The Loreley Statue was installed in 1983. The 3.3-meter-tall bronze female figure watches ships go up and down the busy waterway.

Lorelei Statue (By Markscheider [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), from Wikimedia Commons).

3:40 PM – Lorelei: passengers on sun deck of Viking Skadi approaching the Lorelei.

3:40 PM – Lorelei: with a red marker in the water warning ships to keep away from the rock (telephoto 93 mm).

3:41 PM – Lorelei: view back to St. Goarshausen, with Square Tower, and Burg Katz on hill above town (telephoto 105 mm).

3:43 PM – Lorelei: passing another cruise boat as Skadi approached curve.

3:47 PM – Lorelei: view from curve in Rhine; white sign on wall below highway for “Loreley.”

MT 3:42 PM – Lorelei: view from curve in Rhine; white sign on wall below highway for “Loreley.”

3:49 PM – After Lorelei: vineyard on hill (mild telephoto 44 mm).

MT 3:45 PM – After Lorelei: vineyard on hill (mild telephoto 78 mm).

3:55 PM – After Lorelei: Seven Virgins stones near another curve in Rhine.

Between the Lorelei and the town of Oberwesel, the tops of seven rocks can be seen in the river when the water is low.
According to Joey, the legend says seven virgins were captured by seven knights but fled into the river and became stones until a worthy man (knight) would save them.

The Seven Virgins of Schönburg Castle: According to legend, a nobleman who lived in a castle above Oberwesel on the banks of the Rhine died without a male heir. So his seven daughters were left to fend for themselves, continuing to live in the castle. They were both very beautiful and very prudish. The castle was called Schönburg (beautiful castle) because of their beauty, which was renowned throughout all the lands of the Rhine. After their father died, the sisters longed for liberty and pleasures, riding out hunting and hawking and giving many magnificent banquets. This attracted many knights to woo them, but they were rejected with scorn and mockery, since the sisters would not give up their liberty for any man. At one great banquet, seven proud knights, who had been refused for years, forced the issue by demanding that each of the sisters choose from among them. Under great duress, the sisters agreed to announce their decision the next day. When the expected hour came, the seven sisters were seen crossing the Rhine in a small boat toward the next castle to the north. When they reached the first bend in the river, a terrible storm suddenly arose, and the sisters were never seen again. However, the people of the district call the seven stones in the river the “Seven Virgins,” for they believe the Rhine turned the loveless sisters to stone as a symbol of the stony hearts of the prudish virgins and a warning to all disdainful maidens. According to the legend, one day a worthy prince will take the seven rocks out of the river to build a chapel, and then the spell will be broken. (It should be noted that, even with the noted fertility of the Schönburgs, none of them ever produced seven daughters.)

The next town, on the west side of the river, was Oberwesel, with the Schönburg castle above it

3:57 PM – Oberwesel: first view of town around curve in Rhine – St. Martin (white) church at left and some towers of the old city wall (mild telephoto 81 mm).

Oberwesel, on the left (west) bank of the Rhine, possesses the finest extant fortifications in the Rhineland, a 3-km-long Stadtmauer (City Wall) that still preserves 16 of its towers from an original total of 21. At the hilly northwestern edge, the fortified church of St. Martin forms an integral part of the town’s defenses. At the opposite end of town is the huge Schönburg fortress, which is now a ruin but still impressive. Below it stands the Gothic Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady, which locals call the “Red Church” since it was built of huge red sandstone blocks). The cityscape, which is unmistakably shaped by the two parish churches, the Schönburg castle, and the towers of the city wall, is one of the grandest, not only on the Middle Rhine.

Evidence of a Celtic settlement around Wesel (now Oberwesel) can be traced back to around 400 BC. At that time, the Treveri branch of Celts (some historians consider the Treveri a Gallic tribe) lived on the Rhine. The name of Wesel is also of Celtic origin. At the time of Drusus (around 12 BC), the Romans established a military station in “Vosolvia” on an important military road along the Rhine. The name Oberwesel (Upper Wesel) was introduced only in the 15th century, to distinguish the place on the Middle Rhine from the municipality of Wesel on the Lower Rhine. After the withdrawal of the Roman border troops, the Franks took over the area and established a royal court here. In 839, Frecholfus was appointed as steward (bailiff) of the royal court of “Wesalia.” In 966, Emperor Otto II gave the (Upper) Wesel district (Civitatem Wisilia) to the cathedral in Magdeburg. In 1066, Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa released (Upper) Wesel from the possession of the distant Magdeburg archbishopric, but the lords of Schönburg, who had been stewards for Magdeburg, remained in office even after the change of authority. In 1182, Wesel was first called a city. The oldest dendrochronological date (ca. 1213) from the remains of the city wall already indicated a probable extension of it. Also around that time, there is written evidence that the Liebfrauenkirche and St. Martin church belonged to the Lord of Isenburg. In 1216, Emperor Friedrich II again handed over the town and the castle to the Archdiocese of Magdeburg, until it reverted to the King in 1220. In 1224, Otto von Schönburg was named the highest judge of the area. In 1237, (Upper) Wesel was freed from the bailiwick of the Schönburgs and became a free imperial city, although the Schönburgs remained imperial administrators. Thus, the city was largely allowed to govern itself. Although a mayor and aldermen were already mentioned in 1216, the city was mostly under the administration of the Schönburgs. In 1309, King Heinrich VII appointed his brother, the Archbishop-Elector of Trier as bailiff and steward of Boppard and Oberwesel and, after becoming Emperor in 1312, repeated this pledge. Thus, Oberwesel lost its status of imperial city, immediately subordinate to the Emperor, and began a period of serious decline, becoming an ordinary country town.

The city was besieged and suffered damage in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) and was occupied by the French in 1688-89. When the French withdrew, they destroyed the gates, towers, and the castle and set the city on fire. In the War of Polish Succession (1734-35), the city again suffered serious damage, as it was alternatively occupied by French and imperial troops. In 1794, French Revolutionary troops marched into Oberwesel, and the town belonged to France for more than 20 years. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Oberwesel was given to Prussia.

4:03 PM – Oberwesel: more of town, with sign for “Oberwesel” on wall by river (mild telephoto 62 mm).

4:04 PM – Oberwesel: Ochsenturm (Oxen Tower) and St. Martin (white) church (telephoto 105 mm).

The Catholic St. Martinskirche (St. Martin Church) is popularly known, for obvious reasons, as the “weiße Kirche” (White Church). It rises on the northwest edge of the city, on its highest point. It was formerly the chapel of the royal court, but became the parish church of Oberwesel at the latest in the 8th century. The Stift (cell of clerics), founded in 1303, was destroyed in the Thirty Years’ War. However, its founding provided the impetus for building the current church, which took place in the first half of the 14th century, after the model of the city’s Liebfrauenkirche. The tower was built after 1390-91. The northern aisle was built at the beginning of the 16th century, greatly simplified.

The church is plastered, except for the tower, and painted white. Originally designed with three naves, only the central nave with choir (apse), the west tower, and the northern aisle were built. The huge, fortified west (bell) tower, with windows like firing slits, formed the northwest corner of the city fortifications.

4:05 PM – Oberwesel: Ochsenturm (Oxen Tower), with St. Martin (white) church in background (telephoto 93 mm).

The City Fortification, still with 16 of its originally 21 towers and the almost completely standing city wall, is one of the best preserved structures of its kind in the Rhineland. Its construction is thought to have begun soon after 1213 (1220?), and the wall around the core city was completed abound 1240, although attachments were added through the mid-15th century, as the city expanded. The fact that the city wall is not associated with the castle is unique to the Middle Rhine area.

4:06 PM – Oberwesel: Wernerkapelle, with two towers of city wall (telephoto 105 mm).

The Wernerkapelle (Werner Chapel) is only the choir (apse) of a formerly larger hospital church. As early as 1270, Franciscans founded the Heilig-Geist-Hospital (Holy Spirit Hospital) to care for pilgrims and the sick. Since 1305, the hospital had a church also called Heilig-Geist, which was renamed for St. Werner no later than 1657. After destruction of the building by French troops in 1689, only the choir (apse) was rebuilt around 1700 as a chapel for the hospital. Contrary to the original purely Gothic style, it was given a Baroque hood with a lantern, in keeping with 18th-century tastes. It is connected with the city wall. After renovations in 2008, the parish of Oberwesel renamed it the Mutter-Rosa-Kapelle (Mother Rose Chapel), honoring the Franciscan sister Rosa Flesch in remembrance of the establishment of a branch of the Franciscans in Oberwesel in 1242. However, the chapel is still commonly referred to as the Wernerkapelle.

(Saint) Werner of Oberwesel (1271-1287) was a 16-year-old boy whose unexplained death was blamed on the Jewish community in Oberwesel. The alleged murder was avenged by a wave or pogroms, killing many Jews across the Rhine and Mosel regions. He is also known as Werner of Womrath, for the place where he was born, or Werner of Bacharach, since his body supposedly washed ashore near there. Soon after his burial, alleged miracles were attributed to him, and veneration spread as a martyr cult. Thus, he became a “Volksheiliger” (folk saint, venerated by the people). In 1426-29, attempts were made to officially canonize him, and, although Rome refused to canonize him, he was venerated in the Diocese of Trier until 1963. Although that diocese finally removed him officially from the calendar of saints, “St. Werner of Oberwesel” still appears in German directories of saints, and there are still chapels dedicated to him in Oberwesel (although that officially changed) and Bacharach. He has been acknowledged as the patron saint of winemakers.

4:06 PM – Oberwesel: Wernerkapelle, with two towers of city wall (telephoto 105 mm).

4:07 PM – Oberwesel: two towers of city wall and St. Martin church (telephoto 81 mm).

4:10 PM – Oberwesel: Liebfrauenkirche, with two towers of city wall (mild telephoto 49 mm).

4:10 PM – Oberwesel: Liebfrauenkirche, with a tower of city wall; Schönburg on hill in distance, at left.

4:10 PM – Oberwesel: Liebfrauenkirche – choir (apse), north side, and west tower (mild telephoto 119 mm).

The Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) was first mentioned, as Marienkirche (St. Mary Church) in 1213, which was probably outside the city walls at that time. However, its beginnings probably go back to the 12th century. In 1258, the Archbishop of Trier (Arnold II von Isenburg, elevated the Marienkirche to the status of a collegiate Stift. In 1308, construction of the present Liebfrauenkirche was begun. It was built of plastered, red-painted quarry stone and is therefore popularly called Rote Kirche (Red Church). Construction of the altar and choir (apse) took place in 1331. And the church was consecrated at that time. As the last phase of the construction, the west tower, was completed shortly after 1351. Around 1400, the church was encompassed by an extension of the city wall. It is a three-nave basilica with a towering central nave. With its deliberate lack of any form of decoration, it is one of the most important church buildings of the High Gothic period in Germany. Influenced by the mendicant reductive Gothic architecture, it is relatively short in length, but exceptionally steep and slender. Except for the corners of the tower, it is without any buttresses, since its supporting columns are pilasters in the interior.

4:12 PM – Oberwesel: Liebfrauenkirche – view from its (choir) apse end with Michaelskapelle (white) beyond its tower (telephoto 93 mm).

Oberwesel: Michaelskapelle (Von HOWI - Horsch, Willy - Eigenes Werk, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27402114).

The Michaelskapelle (St. Michael’s Chapel) is the cemetery chapel of the Liebfrauenkirche, standing directly next to that church’s west end and connected to it by the ruins of the former convent hall. The chapel was probably built at the same time as the church

4:08 PM (Cropped) – Oberwesel: Liebfrauenkirche – apse, south side, and tower, with Michaelskapelle next to tower, and sign for “Oberwesel” on river bank (telephoto 119 mm).

4:08 PM – Oberwesel: Liebfrauenkirche with sign for “Stadt Oberwesel” on dock ramp and Schönburg on hill (telephoto 119 mm).

4:13 PM – Schönburg on hill, with sign for “Oberwesel” on riverbank (mild telephoto 72 mm).

4:11 PM – Schönburg on hill: view from near Liebfrauenkirche in Oberwesel (telephoto 156 mm).

Schönburg: aerial view (By Traveler100 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11458675).

Above Oberwesel is the 12th-century fortified Schönburg (meaning beautiful castle), a brutish mass of ruins. It was one of the most impressive castles on the Middle Rhine. Until the 17th century, ownership changed frequently, with many disputes among families and branches of families. It was originally a Reichsburg (imperial castle). In 1149, the year of its first mention, it was a fief in the possession of Hermann von Stahleck. Until. 1166, it was owned by the Magdeburg church as an imperial fief. In 1166, the castle was released from Magdeburg control and again placed directly under King Friedrich I Barbarossa (directly subordinate to the Empire). The lords of Schönburg, ministerial family named for the place of their service, were charged with the protection of the castle. From the 12th century, the Dukes of Schönburg ruled over the town of Oberwesel and had the right to levy tolls on the Rhine. Schönburg was one of the very few medieval castles that, after the duke’s death, all of the sons became heirs to the castle in equal parts (not just the eldest as was usually the custom). So, it came about that the castle became a Ganerbenburg (a castle inhabited simultaneously by several branches of a noble family). At its high point in the 14th century, the castle was inhabited by 24 different family branches with a total of about 250 persons. To accommodate this, the Schönburg families extended the castle, adding more living quarters. Eventually, however, the Schönburg line died out. In 1531, the castle was already in bad condition structurally. Then it was plundered and burned down by French soldiers in 1689. It remained in ruins for two centuries, until an American banker of German ancestry bought it from the town of Oberwesel in 1885 and had it restored at great expense, according to the original plans, by 1914. In 1950, his son sold it back to the town of Oberwesel, which in 1957 granted a long-term lease to another family who converted it into a hotel and restaurant, the Burg Hotel auf Schönburg. It also houses an international youth hostel.

Next, on the east bank, we came to the town of Kaub and Burg Gutenfels.

4:25 PM – Kaub: approaching town, with Burg Gutenfels on hill in distance (mild telephoto 44 mm).

The present location of Kaub (pop. 1,100) was the site of settlements as early as around 500 BC. Opinions differ regarding the origin of the name Kaub. On the one hand, “Kaub” (or “Cuba” at the earliest mention) can be derived from the Celtic word cabi, meaning “small house.” A second explanation is the Latin cubare, meaning “to rest on a camp site.” This may refer to the slate camps that were exploited by the Romans. A third interpretation, referring to the legend of St. Theonest, is the Latin cupola, meaning “barrel.” According to the legend, St. Theonest, a native of Macedonia, was a missionary who was stones in Mainz by pagan Arians, put into a perforated wine barrel, and then pushed into the Rhine. The barrel was stranded at what is now called Kaub, and he brought the Christian faith, along with grapevines to the people there. (Kaub now boasts the most extensive vineyards of the Middle Rhine.) Over the centuries, the spelling of the name has changed several times: from Cuba to Chube, Kub, Caub from the 16th century, and finally Kaub in 1935.

The first written mention of the place was in 983 in a deed to the lords of Falkenstein that extended “ad cubam villam” (to the village of Kaub). It is uncertain who was in possession of Kaub before 1250. In 1260, it belonged to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen. The collection of Rhine tolls was connected with the building of Burg Kaub (later Gutenfels) in the first half of the 13th century. During the Interregnum, when King Wilhelm of Holland conducted a campaign up the Rhine, Kaub was threatened. Then, in 1257 the castle and the toll then came to the lords of Falkenstein, who sold this possession in 1277 to the Pfalzgrafen bei Rhein (Counts Palatine of the Rhine). In 1324, Count Palatine Ludwig the Bavarian, who was then the German king, gave Kaub the rank of city. Around 1326, for safeguarding the toll and better observation of Rhine traffic, he had another midstream fortified toll station, the Pfalzgrafenstein built. In 1477, Kaub again passed to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, but that family died out in 1479. After the dissolution of the Palatinate, Kaub was passed to the Duchy of Nassau in 1802/03. In 1846, 1848, and 1910, devastating fires ravaged the town. In 1866, the Kingdom of Prussia took over the rule of the west side of the Rhine, including Kaub. In 1886, the toll station was shut down.

4:27 PM – Kaub: Rhine-kilometer 547 marker in town, with Burg Gutenfels on hill in distance (telephoto 156 mm).

4:27 PM – Kaub: town to right of Rhine-kilometer 547 marker, including St. Trinitatis- (Protestant) and St. Nikolaus-Kirche (Catholic), with Burg Gutenfels on hill behind (telephoto 119 mm).

The St. Trinitatis- und St. Nikolaus-Kirche (Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas Church) is unique. Today, the Protestant Trinitatis Church and the Catholic Church of St. Nicholas are under one roof with a common tower.

Kaub: Catholic St. Nicholas church (left, with ridge turret) and Protestant St. Trinitatis (right) with common tower (Von Gabriele Delhey - photo taken by Gabriele Delhey, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1217441).

Kaub originally had a Romanesque church, from which only the tower has been preserved. Around 1340-50, the building was enlarged for the first time. It was called “hyl Dryfaltigkyts Kirche zu Cuba” (Holy Trinity Church of Kaub) in 1411, while the choir (apse) has always been dedicated to Sankt Nikolaus (St. Nicholas), the patron saint of sailors. An extension of the church in the 15th century oriented the building to the northeast. In the course of the Reformation, the Palatinate and thus also the church in Kaub had become Protestant. In 1685, however, the Catholic line Pfalz-Neuburg joined the government, Thus, it happened that Kaub, like other towns, reestablished a Catholic parish community. Since 1705, this church has been a Simultankirche (simultaneous church), used by both the Protestant and Catholic communities for worship. In 1705, the late-Gothic, polygonal choir (apse) was separated by a wall and left to the Catholics, and the Protestants used the rest of the church space. In 1769m the late-Gothic choir was demolished and instead, the Catholic parish church of St. Nicholas was built in 1770-72, oriented to the southeast, with a ridge turret and hexagonal lantern (renovated in 1904). It was extended in 1953-54 with a simple choir.

4:30 PM – Kaub: town, with St. Trinitatis- (Protestant) and St. Nikolaus-Kirche (Catholic) at right (mild telephoto 81 mm).

4:30 PM – Kaub: town, with St. Trinitatis- (Protestant) and St. Nikolaus-Kirche (Catholic) at far left and white Mainzer Torturm (Mainz Gate Tower), now part of Hotel zum Turm (Hotel of the Tower) at far right, with Burg Gutenfels and vineyards on hill behind (mild telephoto 63 mm).

 Kaub: Mainzer Torturm (above gate) and Hotel zu Turm (right) (By LoKiLeCh - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60812528).

4:31 PM – Burg Gutenfels: on hill with vineyard (telephoto 156 mm).

Burg Gutenfels, on the hillside above Kaub, was founded, as Burg Kaub, at the latest in the first half of the 13th century (possibly in 1220 or more probably around 1235), presumably by the Bolanden branch of the Falkenstein family, in conjunction with the collection of Rhine tolls. Although the earliest document to mention Burg Kaub was from 1261, its architectural forms indicate that it probably had already existed for a while. When King Wilhelm of Holland besieged the town of Kaub in 1252, the castle was not specifically mentioned, since the town was protected by a wall. When Rudolf von Habsburg became king (1273-90), he took measures against the toll stations on the Rhine. As a result the Falkensteins gradually sold the town and the castle to the Pfalzgrafen bei Rhein (Count Palatine of the Rhine) in 1277-91. Together with the Sterrenberg and Maus castles, Burg Kaub formed a protective belt around the possessions of the Count Palatine on the Middle Rhine. The Counts Palatine seldom provided personal attention to castles, and in this case the castle was administered by noblemen from the surrounding countryside, including the Counts of Nassau and Katzenelnbogen. Over the centuries, the castle was repeatedly adapted to the fortification requirements of the time.

In 1504, during the War of Bavarian-Palatinate Succession, the city of Kaub and its castle, then still called Burg Kaub, were besieged by Count Wilhelm of Hessen for 39 days. Kaub withstood the siege, and in thanks the Count Palatine renamed the castle Gutenfels (meaning Good Rock). During the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), the castle was occupied by Spanish troops(1620), Hessians allied with the Swedes (1631), Imperial troops and then Hessians again (1635), French (1645-46), and again by the Hessians (1647). Then only a company of invalids was left in the castle. In 1793, the castle was handed over to the French without a fight, but it officially remained in possession of the Counts Palatine until 1803, when it passed first to the Principality of Nassau and then, in 1806, to the Duchy of Nassau. The company of invalids has been dissolved in 1804. The Nassau government auctioned off the wooden parts in 1807 and the walls in 1813. In 1833, the archivist Friedrich Habel acquired the ruins and saved then from final demolition and decay. From 1866 to the time of the Nazis, Kaub and Gutenfels were Prussian, and ownership passed through several hands. Since 1952, the castle had been privately owned and renovated at great expense. It has now been converted to a hotel.

4:31 PM – Burg Gutenfels: on hill with vineyard, above Hotel zum Turm in Kaub (mild telephoto 72 mm).

4:32 PM – Kaub: Pegelturm (display reading 77), with high water marks on wall to its right (telephoto 156 mm).

The Pegelturm (Level Tower), built in 1905, houses the Pegel Kaub (Kaub Gauge), which is of central importance for navigation on the Rhine, especially the stretch between Koblenz and Bingen, and especially at low water. The tower and the high-water marks I and II are at the level of the ferry ramp. It shows navigators the water level of the Rhine. The level zero point is at 67.66 m above sea level, mark I at level 460 cm (72.26 m above sea level), and mark II, at which navigation is discontinued, is at level 640 cm (74.06 m above sea level), shortly below the top of the shore wall. Since 1951, the level meter has had an electronic display, and since 1967 the water level data has been transmitted to the hydrology data center. The Pegel Kaub is located at Rhein-kilometer 546.3 a few meters below (to the north of) Burg Pfalzgrafenstein.

4:34 PM – Kaub: looking back on Kaub and Burg Gutenfels from near Pfalzgrafenstein (Falkenau island coming into view at right).

4:33 PM – Pfalzgrafenstein: approaching the castle on Falkenau island in middle of Rhine.

4:33 PM – Pfalzgrafenstein: side of castle, with corner turrets and wooden lookout oriels projecting from wall (telephoto 156 mm).

Around 1326, Count Palatine Ludwig the Bavarian, who was then the German king and Emperor, had the Burg Pfalzgrafenstein (meaning Count Palatine Stone) built. It is sometimes called just “Pfalzgrafenstein” or “the Pfalz” (or erroneously Rheinpfalz or Pfalzburg). Because Burg Gutenfels was much too far away from the river, this fortified castle on Falkenau island in the middle of the river could serve much better as a toll station and provide better observation of the Rhine traffic. Due to a dangerous cataract on the river’s left (west), about 1 km upstream, every vessel traveling downstream would have to use a channel nearer to the right (east) bank, between the island castle and the fortified town of Kaub. A chain across the river between the two fortifications would force ships to submit to the toll. In 1326-27, only the central pentagonal tower was built. The upstream tip of the pentagon would serve as a flood and icebreaker. Between 1338 and the end of 1342, the 12-meter-high hexagonal curtain wall was built around the tower. In 1339, the Counts Palatine built a permanent Bergfried (keep) for their city of Kaub and for Burg Pfalzgrafenstein, which was first called by this name at that time. In 1477, the castle was placed under the care of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, until that line died out in 1479. The castle, which was again expanded in 1607 and 1755, consisting of corner turrets, the gun bastion pointing upstream, and the Baroque cap on the tower. It remained in the hands of the Counts Palatine until 1803. After the dissolution of the Palatinate, the complex passed first to the Duchy of Nassau and then, in 1866, to Prussia. It remained a toll station until 1876. Since 1946, it has belonged to the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and has been used as a signal station for Rhine traffic. Unlike the vast majority of Rhine castles, it was never conquered or destroyed, withstanding not only wars but also the natural onslaughts of ice and floods on the river.

With a bastion-like “bow” upstream, and obtuse-angled “stern” downstream, and the main tower forming a strong “mast,” the Pfalzgrafenstein resembles a mighty stone ship. The octagonal dome with lantern was built in the middle of the 18th century. at the corners of the curtain wall (except the southern tip) are round towers with polygonal floors above the battlements. Enthroned on a bastion at the southern point is a Baroque lion, from the Palatinate coat of arms; this lion is a copy of the 1607 original, which is now in a museum. The ring wall is encircled inside with stone arcades, with a second wooden, inwardly-opening battlement. Also, wooden lookout oriels (platforms built out from a wall) with curved gables are found on the outside. The projecting wooden defensive oriels, which are otherwise preserved in hardly any castle in the area, give an idea of the original appearance of many fortifications in the Middle Ages. The castle was completely renovated in the 1960s and 70s in the original Baroque color version (red and white).

4:34 PM – Pfalzgrafenstein: side of castle, with wooden lookout oriels projecting from wall and “bow”-like upstream point (mild telephoto 63 mm).

4:35 PM – Pfalzgrafenstein: “bow” of ship-like castle, with Burg Gutenfels and vineyards on hill behind and tower in Kaub at far right (mild telephoto 93 mm).

4:36 PM – Pfalzgrafenstein: “bow” of ship-like castle, with Kaub in background: St. Trinitatis- and St. Nikolaus-Kirche (far left), Pegelturm (just to right of Pfalzgrafenstein) and another tower (far right); Burg Gutenfels and vineyards on hill behind (mild telephoto 93 mm).

The next town, on the west bank, was Bacharach.

4:51 PM – Bacharach: town, including St. Peter church (mild telephoto 72 mm).

Bacharach (pop. 1,901), also known as Bacharach am Rhein, is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district of the Rhineland-Palatinate. The original name Baccaracus points to Celtic beginnings. The first documentary mention of Bacharach may have been in 923, but that is uncertain. It was certainly mentioned in 1019. It may have existed as early as the 7th century, when Dagobert I, King of the Franks, passed the kingly domain to the ownership of Kunibert, Archbishop of Cologne; pointing to this is a Kunibertskapelle (Kunibert’s Chapel) on the spot where the Wernerkapelle (Werner Chapel [see Oberwesel]) now stands. Over time, the Counts Palatine reduced the influence of Cologne so much that they resided in Burg Stahleck above the town. In 1214, the Wittelsbachs became the new lords of Bacharach and established a profitable toll station there. Bacharach became the most important transfer point for the wine trade, since barrels were offloaded here from the smaller ships that were needed to get past a reef upstream near Bingen. Timber trade from the Hunsrück region also brought importance to Bacharach, and in 1356 it was granted the rights of a town. The town wall was built in 1344-1400. In 1545, the town, along with the rest of the Palatinate, became Protestant. The wall could not stop Bacharach from undergoing eight changes in military occupation and sackings in the Thirty years’ War (1618-48). In 1689, French troops blew up Burg Stahleck and four towers of the town’s wall. In 1794, French Revolutionary troops occupied the west bank of the Rhine and in 1802, Bacharach became temporarily French. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the town, along with the rest of the west bank, was given to Prussia.

Bacharach: St. Peter Church (Von Peter Weller, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4898610).

The Pfarrkirche St. Peter (Parish Church of St. Peter), with its mighty west tower, was built from the end of the 12th century to 1269, although the choir (apse) was not built until 1350. Thus, its architecture represents a transition. Despite its beginnings with largely Rhenish late-Romanesque design, some parts were based on the early-Gothic style of French church architecture, which was often used as a model during this period, especially in the Rhineland. From 1194 until the Reformation, the church belonged to the Diocese of Cologne, but since then it has been a Protestant church.

4:51 PM – Bacharach: town, including St. Peter church and one tower of the town’s medieval fortifications partway up the hill at right (mild telephoto 38 mm).

Above the town of Bacharach was Burg Stahleck.

4:54 PM – Burg Stahleck: castle and vineyards on hill, above one tower of the town’s medieval fortifications partway up the hill (telephoto 105 mm).

4:56 PM – Burg Stahleck: castle and vineyards on hill (telephoto 105 mm).

Burg Stahleck from northwest (By Sir Gawain - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4853204).

Burg Stahleck was commissioned by the Diocese of Cologne on the site of an older medieval fortification. The exact time of its origin is unknown. Several years passed before it first appears in documents in 1135, when it was a fief of the Archbishopric of Cologne owned by the rich knight Goswin von Stahleck. The name of the castle is derived from the Middle high German stahel (modern German Stahl, meaning steel) and ecke (modern German Ecke, meaning corner, in castle names it refers to a mountain spur). In 1142, Hermann von Stahleck (also known as Hermann von Katzenelnbogen), the son of Goswin von Stahleck, was named Count Palatine by his brother-in-law, King Konrad III. After the death of Hermann in 1156, the castle passed to the Hohenstaufens as the next line of Counts Palatine, who made it their preferred residence on the Middle Rhine. The castle was to remain with the Wittelsbachs until the end of the Old Kingdom. In 1344, the castle was included in the new city fortifications of Bacharach.

Burg Stahleck (aka Schloß  Stahleck) defended by Spanish against recapture by Swedes in 1632, in engraving from 1646 (By Matthäus Merian - Heinrich Stüber: Burg Stahleck über Bacharach. Von der Stauferburg zur Jugendherberge, Verein für die Geschichte der Stadt Bacharach und der Viertäler, Bacharach, 2004, ISBN 3-928022-75-X, p. 33., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4853393).

During the Thirty Years’ War, Stahleck and the town were captured and recaptured many times by the invading armies and badly damaged. By 1666, the Count Palatine had the damage largely repaired and also built a massive new building with a half-timbered upper story at the northern rampart. Then, in 1689, French troops blew up the castle, almost leveling it for keeps. The explosion completely destroyed both the ring wall and the Bergfried, the residential buildings were burned out, and debris from the explosion destroyed the Werner Chapel at the foot of the hill in Bacharach.

Burg Stahleck in ruins in 1840 engraving (By Unknown - Heinrich Stüber, Burg Stahleck über Bacharach. Von der Stauferburg zur Jugendherberge, Bacharach : Verein für die Geschichte der Stadt Bacharach und der Viertäler, 2004, ISBN 3-928022-75-X, p. 44., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4870704).

After the dissolution of the Palatine state, the French offered the ruin for sale in 1804. In 1828, it was acquired by Crown Prince Wilhelm IV of Prussia. However, since the walls could not be restored, the Prussians sold it in 1908 to the Rheinische Verein für Denkmalpflege (Rhenish Association for the Care of Monuments). In 1925-27, the association had the ring and shield walls reconstructed according to old plans and built a youth hostel on the excavated foundations. In 1965-67, the Romanesque Bergfried (keep) was restored and provided with a conical roof. The castle still serves as a youth hostel.

The next town, on the east bank, was Lorchhausen.

4:59 PM – Lorchhausen: St. Bonifatius (St. Boniface) Church and Gasthaus Rheingold at its right, with vineyards on hill behind (mild telephoto 81 mm).

Lorchhausen (pop. 789) is a district (village) of the city of Lorch (pop. 3,861), and a border town between Hessen and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is located at Rhine-kilometer 542, where the Retzbach flows into the Rhine. It is also on the Niedertal valley, which for centuries was the border between the Rheingau and the Palatinate. After WWII, that valley was the border between the American occupation zone, including Lorchhausen, and the French zone. Lorchhausen was first documented in 1211. Until 1733, as a settlement of the Edelknappen (noble squires) of Lorch, it formed a community along with Lorch. However, Lorchhausen was independent with its own administration. In 1803, it came under the Principality of Nassau-Usingen, which was changed by Napoleon I to the Duchy of Nassau in 1806. In 1866, along with the rest of Nassau, it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. Since 1947, it has been part of the German state of Hessen. In 1971, Lorchhausen voluntarily became part of the city of Lorch.

The Lorchhausen district is an old, historic wine village, with many vineyards on the steep slate slopes.

5:00 PM – Lorchhausen: Gasthaus Rheingold, taken to help identify town (telephoto 156 mm).

The Gasthaus und Hotel Rheingold (Inn and Hotel Rheingold) was built in 1906. A Treppengiebel (stepped gable), a Fachwerkgiebel (half-timbered gable), and a Schiefergiebel (slate gable) crown the Romantic building and give it a picturesque appearance.

5:01 PM – Lorchhausen: behind buildings at left is a tower of the Alte Kirche; at right is St. Boniface Church; on hill above vineyards is Clemenskapelle (mild telephoto 72 mm).

Sights worth seeing in Lorchhausen include the Alte Kirche, the Clemenskapelle, and the Pfarrkirche St. Bonifatius.

Lorchhausen: Alte Kirche (Von RichHein - Eigenes Werk, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55442199).

The Alte Kirche (Old Church) was formerly known as St. Bonifatius. The Romanesque church tower is from the 14th century and was probably part of the town’s fortifications. The nave was built in 1580 and enlarged in 1790. In 1801, the nave was completely burned out and was rebuilt, with expanded outer walls, by 1805. In 1872, the church was again completely destroyed by fire and, as a result, was deconsecrated. The remains of the building were first used as a barn and then converted into a residential house in 1950.

Lorchhausen: Pfarrkirche St. Bonifatius (Von RichHein - Eigenes Werk, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55441774).

The Pfarrkirche St. Bonifatius (Parish Church of St. Boniface), dominating the view of the town, was built in 1878-79. It is a beautiful, three-nave church with a single tower. It was built in neo-Gothic style with unplastered local quarry stone,

Lorchhausen: Clemenskapelle (Von RichHein - Eigenes Werk, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55461351).

The Clemenskapelle (Clemens Chapel), high up in the vineyards, was built in 1908-09 and named for the pastor Clemens La Roche, who initiated the construction. Like the Pfarrkirche St. Bonifatius, it is built of unplastered local quarry stones.

Next, still on the east bank, we passed more of the city of Lorch, with the ruins of Nollig above more vineyards.

5:03 PM – Lorch: with Ruine Nollig on hill above vineyards is Clemenskapelle (mild telephoto 81 mm).

The next town, on the west bank, was Rheindiebach with the Burg Fürstenberg above it.

5:04 PM – Rheindiebach: Viking Skadi approaching town on east bank, with ruins of Burg Fürstenberg above it (what looks like a tower at the top of the hill seems to be a group of tall trees).

Rheindiebach is a constituent community of the municipality of Oberdiebach in the Mainz-Bingen district of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Rheindiebach was first mentioned in 1461, as Dyepach Ryne, but just as Diebach already in 893 through 1219. The addition of “Rhein” was probably necessary after the settlement had achieved economic independence. In 1669, it was designated as a “Flecken” (marketplace or borough) and in 1812/17 as a “Weiler” (hamlet). Rheindiebach was a branch of the parish of Bacharach; when that parish was divided during the Reformation, the Marienkapelle (St. Mary Chapel) built in 1476 in Rheindiebach fell to the Protestants. In 1785, permission was given to build a new chapel, which was inaugurated in 1793 but was auctioned in the 19th century.

5:07 PM – Burg Fürstenberg: ruins (telephoto 119 mm).

Burg Fürstenberg: ruins from below (By paddy - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7569144).

Construction of Burg Fürstenberg (Fürstenberg Castle) was commissioned in 1219 by the Archbishop of Cologne on the border between his lands, as elector of Cologne, and those of the elector of Mainz, in order to protect his possessions around Bacharach and the associated tolls. After 1243, it was a fief of the Counts Palatine of the Wittelsbach line. It served as a “Vorwerk” (a defensive system that comes before the actual castle) to the Palatine’s Burg Stahleck. In the middle of the 13th century, it was destroyed as a “Rauberburg” (castle of robber barons) but then rebuilt. In 1314, King Ludwig the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, pledged the castle to the Archbishop of Mainz in thanks for the archbishop’s support of his election. However, other members of the Wittelsbach family did not agree with the pledge and by force prevented the archbishop from taking possession. The castle was first handed over to the Count of Nassau and then to the Margrave of Baden, who administered it at the expense of the archbishop. The Margraves had to ensure that the castle was used neither against King Ludwig nor against the archbishoprics of Mainz or Trier. In 1326, the castle came to Margaret of Holland, the wife of King Ludwig. In 1410, the castle finally came under the Palatinate and was converted into a toll station. During the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), the castle was conquered by the Spanish in 1620, before they handed it over to the Swedes in 1632 without a fight. Like many other castles in the Rhineland, Fürstenberg fell victim to French invaders in 1689, when it was largely destroyed and burned out. In 1912, a wine merchant family bought the ruins and the associated vineyards. In 1973, it passed to the ownership of the Kurpfalz-Sektkellerei (Palatinate Sparkling Wine Cellar) in Speyer. Since 1993, it has again been owned by a private family, which now operates the vineyards and has been renovating the castle.

Burg Fürstenberg: ruins from above, with Rheindiebach below (By Traveler100 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7803130).

Burg Fürstenberg is a typical Rhineland “Hangburg” (castle built on the incline [Hang] below the summit of a mountain). Still well preserves are parts of the surrounding wall, parts of the high shield wall reinforced by a round flank tower, and above all the round Bergfried (keep) that is tapered toward the crenellated top. The tower is 25 m high. Many sections of the walls still have some of the plaster, which was originally used on all castles of the Rhineland.

5:10 PM – Burg Fürstenberg: looking back on ruins from Rhine-kilometer 541 sign (telephoto 119 mm).

5:08 PM – Ruine Nollig: ruins on hilltop above vineyards and town (telephoto 93 mm).

Ruine Nollig (Von Johannes Robalotoff - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11190919).

The Ruine Nollig (Nollig Ruins) is a remnant of the former city fortification on a rocky ledge above Lorch. Although it might appear to be the ruins of a mountain castle, it is probably the remains of a watchtower that could be inhabited in an emergency. The rectangular building was first built around the beginning of the 14th century as a three-story half-timbered building, but it was soon covered with a massive wall and reinforced. It was secured by a trench and a shield wall flanked by two lateral round towers.

5:11 PM – Ruine Nollig: ruins on hilltop above vineyards and town (mild telephoto 49 mm).

5:11 PM – Ruine Nollig: ruins on hilltop above vineyards (telephoto 156 mm).

We then passed the town of Lorch on the east bank.

5:14 PM – Lorch: St. Martin Church (at left) and Hilchenhaus (white façade with stepped gable) with more of town (telephoto 93 mm).

Lorch (pop. 3,861) is a small, picturesque town on the east side of the Rhine, some 10 km north of the bend in the Rhine near Rüdesheim. Its constituent communities include Lorchhausen. It characterized by winegrowing (predominantly Riesling) in its steep vineyards. The area was settled early on by the Celts, Romans, and others. The first documentary mention of Lorch was in 1085.

The Catholic Pfarrkirche St. Martin (St. Martin’s Parish church) is Gothic building built over the remains of a still partly preserved Late-Romanesque basilica. The current building was begun around 1230, with the construction of the choir (apse). After a delay of several decades, the nave was built around 1270 in simplified form. The church tower was incorporated on foundation of a watchtower from Roman times. A reconstruction of the west façade took place in 1480, and the tower was renewed in 1576.

The Hilchenhaus (Hilchen House), from the mid-16th century, is well known as the “loveliest Renaissance building on the Middle Rhine.” Field Marshal Johann Hilchen von Lorch, from a significant local noble family, had construction of the house begun shortly before his death in 1548. His son finally finished it in 1573 with the completion of the gable. The stone building has a monumental façade facing the Rhine, which contrasts with the half-timbered construction characteristic of the region. Two strong columns support a two-story bay window. The four-story stepped gable completed the Rhine façade. After heavy damage in WWII, the house underwent makeshift repairs in the early 1950s but was still neglected. In the 1970s, the façade was again renovated with public funds but remained vacant. In the 1990s, an entrepreneur tried to expand it into a hotel but went bankrupt, leaving a ruin with various damages and marring. In 2009, the city of Lorch secured a 99-year lease on the property and, in 2010, demolished the hotel ruins and began renovation of the historic building, which was completed in 2014.

The next town, on the west bank, was Niederheimbach, with Heimburg castle above it.

5:17 PM – Niederheimbach: town with Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt at far left, above it Heimburg castle, and (in center) a train station with sign for “Niederheimbach” (mild telephoto 63 mm).

Niederheimbach is a municipality in the Mainz-Bingen district of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is located just northwest of the Rhine Knee (a large bend in the Rhine). In 815. King Ludwig der Fromme (Louis the Pious) gave the area around what would later become Niederheimbach to the Benedictine abbey Cornelimünster near Aachen. In 983, the village of Heimbach was also the northern corner of the “Bingen donation” given by Emperor Otto II to the Archbishop of Mainz. In 1092, the Archbishop left the bailiwick (stewardship) of Heimbach to representatives of St. Martin’s Church in Mainz. In 1213, , the  lords of Bolanden(-Hohenfels) became the bailiffs (stewards). In 1245, the Cornelimünster first transferred the protection of its possessions to the Archbishop of Mainz, who in 1271 granted it to the lords of Bolanden(-Hohenfels) as a fief.

The bailiffs (stewards) of the abbey, the lords of Bolanden(-Hohenfels), and also the wealthy Archbishopric of Mainz built or had built several castles in the vicinity.

Burg Sooneck (Sooneck Castle), also called Saneck or Sonneck, stands on a steep slope in the Soonwald (Soon Forest) above the municipality of Niederheimbach. Another castle, the Heimburg (also called Burg Hoheneck), also lies above the municipality.

These castles and their masters determined the history of this place. The contrast between the territorial politics of Mainz in Niederheimbach (Lower Heimbach) and that of the Counts Palatine in Oberheimbach (Upper Heimbach) played a significant role. The strategic importance of this place is shown by the fact that, in addition to the castles, fortifications were built. In later times, life in the village was determined by viticulture (winegrowing) and navigation on the Rhine. Every ship on the way to Bingen, which was full of reefs and dangerous, took a pilot on board. The pilotage and ferry service was a lucrative business for local residents.

5:18 PM – Niederheimbach: train station with sign for “Niederheimbach” (telephoto 156 mm and Cropped).

5:17 PM – Niederheimbach: Heimburg castle above Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt (telephoto 119 mm).

Niederheimbach: Heimburg – aerial view toward Rhine (By The original uploader was Peter Weller at German Wikipedia.(Original text: Foto Peter Weller) - Transferred from de.wikipedia to Commons.(Original text: Foto Peter Weller), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2463136).

The Heimburg (aka Hohneck or Hoheneck) stands on a low mountain promontory overlooking Niederheimbach. Its almost square layout has two round towers, of different heights, that are enclosed by the outward-bowing shield wall. Also preserved are some small remnants of the town’s fortifications adjoining the castle.

In the late 13th century, the lords of Bolanden(-Hohenfels) had a fief that included Oberheimbach, Niederheimbach, and Trechtingshausen (farther south). They apparently felt that their position was threatened and, in 1290 sold the castle hill of Reichenstein (by Trechtingshausen), as well as the bailiff (stewardship) of Trechtingshausen and both Ober- and Niederheimbach, all of which had been feudal possessions of Mainz, to the Count Palatine. The Archbishop of Mainz had to react to this, and thus was born a conflict between him and the Count Palatine. After 1290, the Archbishop built the Heimburg, in order to prevent the Count Palatine from extending his area of influence from the rebuilt Burg Reichenstein.

The Heimburg was apparently built during the reign of Archbishop Gerhard (1294-1305) or at the latest that of Archbishop Peter (1308-20) to serve as a bulwark countering the Palatine castles Reichenstein, Fürstenberg, and Stahleck and thus prevent the Count Palatine from extending his lordship to the south.

As early as 1314, there were more serious disputes between the Archbishop and the Palatinate. At that time, the Count Palatine committed himself to return Burg Reichenstein to the Archbishop and to abandon his violent actions in Ober- and Niederheimbach. However, there were still issues regarding castle ownership and disputed sovereign rights. When the dispute threatened to falter, the Archbishop persuaded King Ludwig the Bavarian to intervene on his behalf. In 1317, the King ordered the inhabitants of Ober- and Niederheimbach, as well as Trechtingshausen, to be obedient to the Archbishop and to acknowledge him as sovereign. In 1326-28, The Archbishop recruited lords to protect the castle. The construction of the Heimburg stopped in 1340, but the Archbishop had it further strengthened, even adding catapults. However, the inhabitants of Oberheimbach still felt more connected to the Counts Palatine, and the crack of sympathy ran between it and Niederheimbach. During arbitration between the two parties in 1344, the Count Palatine insisted on sovereignty over Trechtingshausen and both districts of Heimbach, since they were old Palatine fiefs of the Cornelimünster abbey. The Archbishop would have had to give them up and also give up the Heimburg again. However the Palatine claim was rejected, and the disputed Burg Reichenstein was also awarded to the Archbishop. After 1344, the Heimburg was preserved but lost its strategic importance, since the Archbishop also had Reichenstein. Although the Archbishop again fortified the Heimburg, it became the administrative seat of the Mainz bailiff and a lower court under the bailiff. By the 16th century, the castle fell into disrepair, and it was destroyed by the French in 1689. After that destruction, the ruin served as a quarry. In 1787, care of the castle was entrusted to a resident of Niederheimbach, and in 1898 it came into his possession. After that, the owners changed frequently.  In 1920, the master of the castle had it rebuilt as a summer residence in neo-Gothic style, and it is still privately owned.

The name Heimburg has been written in various ways over the centuries: Haineck in 1305; Heyenburg in 1331/50; Heimburg in 1344; or Heymburg and Heimberg in 1350. The etymological explanation for the name is that Haineck, Heimburg, and Heimberg are shortened forms of Hein(back)eck and Heim(bach)burg/-berg, meaning the corner (Ecke), castle (Burg), or mountain (Berg) of Heimbach.

Niederheimbach: Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt, with Heimburg behind it (By The original uploader was Osi at German Wikipedia.(Original text: Oswald Engelhardt) - Transferred from de.wikipedia to Commons.(Original text: fotografiert von Oswald Engelhardt), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2463174 ).

The Pfarrkirche St. Mariä Himmelfahrt (Parish Church of the Assumption of St. Mary) stands on the bank of the Rhine and until 1750 was dedicated to St. Nikolaus (St. Nicholas). The choir (apse) tower is from the second quarter of the 13th century and was later added to at its top. The tower has a pointed helmet roof with four corner turrets (17th century). The current church largely owes its appearance to new construction measures in 1913-21 that created a basilica in late-Gothic style. The long side, toward the Rhine, was created as a showy façade with gables over the side aisles.

5:18 PM – Niederheimbach: Heimburg castle above Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt (telephoto 156 mm).

5:18 PM – Niederheimbach: dock ramp with sign for “Niederheimbach” (telephoto 156 mm).

5:20 PM – Niederheimbach: looking back at Heimburg and another part of town with sign, by river, for “Niederheimbach Märchen – Burgen & Glockendorf” (Niederheimbach Fairy Tale – Castles & Bell Village), with running dwarfs on both ends of sign (mild telephoto 56 mm).

5:20 PM (Cropped) – Niederheimbach: sign, by river, for “Niederheimbach Märchen – Burgen & Glockendorf” (Niederheimbach Fairy Tale – Castles & Bell Village), with running dwarfs on both ends of sign (mild telephoto 56 mm).

The “Märchen[-dorf]” (village of fairytales) part of the sign probably refers to the “Märchenhain” (Fairytale Grove), a sculptural exhibition that was a tourist attraction in Niederheimbach from 1931 to 1980. It features small houses recreating scenes from various fairytales (including Show White’s dwarfs). In 1952, for example, the park attracted 500,000 visitors. When the grove was sold in 1980, the new owners had no interested in continuing the park, and the land and buildings fell into decay. However, the townspeople rescued and restored the fairytale characters, and since 1998 they have been displayed in over 30 stations along the Märchenweg (Fairytale Path), a former cow path near the Heimburg above Niederheimbach.

The pictures of the Bratwurstzwerg (Bratwurst Dwarf) painted on the sign on the railroad wall facing the Rhine by the ferry dock, where they can easily be seen by passengers of ships on the Rhine. Since Niederheimbach did not have tourist-attracting logo, a local teacher created the Bratwurstzwerg in 1953. The dwarf was supposed to represent the Märchenhain, as well as the Sagenhalle (hall of sagas) and the hoard of the Nibelungen. The running figure of the dwarf holds a glass of white wine in his right hand, because Niederheimbach is known for its winegrowing, especially Riesling. In his left hand, he carries a Bratwurst, because the town’s folk festival is now called “Bratwurstkerb” or “Bratwurstkirmes” (Bratwurst festival). Over the years, the original painting, overgrown by moss, almost disappeared, but it was restored in the original size and colors in 2006 and remains the logo of the town.

“The “Burgen[-dorf]” (village of castles) part of the sign obviously refers to the castles in the area.

The “Glockendorf” (village of bells) part of the sign probably refers to the “Glockenwanderung” (bells hike) through the town of Niederheimbach, from the Mainz side to the Palatine side, passing bells that sound in several locations with different sound patterns.

Next, we came to Burg Sooneck on the west bank.

5:08 PM – After Niederheimbach: Viking Skadi approaching Burg Sooneck on hilltop on west bank.

5:28 PM – Burg Sooneck: ruins on hilltop (telephoto 156 mm).

5:31 PM – Burg Sooneck: ruins on hilltop (telephoto 156 mm).

Burg Sooneck: ruins on hilltop (By Fomel, modified by Wildfeuer - Image:Burg Loreley.JPG, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1244552).

Burg Sooneck (also known as Saneck or Sonneck, previously also as Schloss Sonneck) was built on a steep slope near the village of Niederheimbach. It was probably built in 1005 at the behest of the Benedictine abbey Cornelimünster near Aachen in order to protect the abbey’s remote property here. The castle was probably first mentioned in 1271. Like neighboring Burg Reichenstein, it was managed by the lords of Bolanden-Hohenfels as bailiffs (stewards) for the Cornelimünster abbey. Later it became a roost for the robber barons.

According to legend, one of the robber barons, Lord Siebold, used Sooneck as his stronghold. One night, a drunken and boastful Siebold ordered his servants to bring a recently captured nobleman from the dungeon. This captive, Hans Veit von Fürsteneck, was considered the best archer on the Rhine, but now Siebold had had his eyes gouged out. Siebold said he had heard that Hans, even blind, could hit a given target with a bolt from a crossbow, and jeeringly offered him his freedom if he could do so. The archer was handed a crossbow cocked and loaded. Siebold grabbed a goblet, hurled it onto the floor, where it struck with a golden chime, and shouted “Shoot!” The blind archer unleashed a bolt that struck Siebold squarely in the mouth and broke his neck. The band of robbers fled, and the servants led Hans back to his home and family.

After the Interregnum of the Holy Roman Empire ended in 1273, the new Emperor Rudolf I von Habsburg besieged the castle in 1282 and applied the lessons learned by the Rhine League to the destruction of the robbers at Sooneck, torching their castle and hanging them. Rudolf also imposed a ban on rebuilding the castle. In 1346, when the territorial disputes between the Archbishop of Mainz and the Counts Palatine were settled, Burg Sooneck went to the Archbishop, who gave the castle as a fief to the Rhenish knights of Waldeck. In 1349, King Karl IV revoked the building ban, and the Waldecks began to rebuild Sooneck. When the Waldeck line died out in 1553, the Breidach family took over, and when that family became extinct, the castle began to fall into disrepair. In 1689, Sooneck, like all the castles on the west bank of the Rhine, was destroyed by French troops. In 1774, the Archdiocese of Mainz leased the ruins to four residents of nearby Trechtingshausen, who planted vineyards. The site later came into the possession of the village of Niederheimbach. In 1834, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and his two brothers bought the completely derelict castle and, between 1842 and 1861, had it rebuilt as a hunting lodge. In the rebuilding, the historical structures were largely retained, along with the addition of buildings in the Romantic style. Disagreements within the royal family and the effects of revolutions in Germany in 1848 prevented the castle from ever being used as a hunting lodge. After WWI, aristocratic properties were nationalized, and Sooneck became a possession of the German state. After WWII, it passed to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and in 1948 to the State Ministry of Castles.

The spelling of the castle’s name changed over the centuries: Sanecke in 1227; Sanegge, Saenecke, Saineke in 1282; castrum Saneck in 1290; Saynecke in 1369; Sanek in 1397; Soneck in 1690. From its earliest forms, the name is derived from the pre-Germanic forest name Sana and the Middle High German Ecke (corner; in castle names it refers to a mountain spur).

The core of the castle probably goes back to the 12th century. The essential parts of the outer walls, from the 14th century, are preserved. The main castle, on the highest point at the northwest corner of the complex, is approximately rectangular. The better protected eastern half includes a three-story residential building, while the western half (side that would be attacked) has a narrow courtyard, in the corner of which the mighty quadrangular Bergfried (keep) rises. The residential building and the Bergfried were connected to each other by a wooden bridge and are topped with (mostly still original) battlements and turrets. Instead of the flat roofs seen today, the original roofs were probably high and hipped. On the south side of the main castle is a stairway interrupted by several gates. On the south side down the slope, is an extensive fore-castle with a tower, which originally, together with a second tower that was not reconstructed, flanked the southwestern castle gate that was the main entrance in the Middle Ages. The upper parts of the ring walls are mostly new, as are the balcony and the castellan’s (steward’s) residence at the present castle gate.

5:32 PM – Burg Sooneck: ruins on hilltop (telephoto 156 mm).

5:35 PM – After Burg Sooneck: running dwarf (similar to the Bratwurstzwerg on the sign by the ferry dock in Niederheimbach, but this time carrying a bottle of beer and swim fins) on wall by river (telephoto 156 mm).

Sometime after the Bratwurstzwerg (Bratwurst Dwarf) paintings on the wall by the ferry dock in Niederheimbach were restored in 2006, some jokesters repainted them with a bottle of beer instead of a glass of wine and swim fins instead of the Bratwurst. The town had a painter quickly correct those paintings to their original form. However, this one a bit farther up the Rhine is still in the defaced form.

5:37 PM – Another castle, part of the large chess set on the sun deck of Viking Skadi.

The next town, on the west bank, was Trechtingshausen.

5:44 PM – Trechtingshausen: sign for “Trechtingshausen” on wall by Rhine (telephoto 437 mm).

Trechtingshausen (pop. 1,029), formerly also called Trechtlingshausen, is a municipality in the Mainz-Bingen district of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The Castrum Trajani (Trajan’s fortress) was mentioned in Roman times. Graves have been unearthed here from Frankish times, when Trechtingshausen belonged to the lower Nahegau (a county). In its first documentary mention in 1122, its name was given as Drodingishusen, then in 1135 as Drohtenhusen, in 1328 as Dreieckshusen (triangle houses), and in 1335 as Drechlingshusen. Documents of 1135 show the place, in the “parish of St. Clement,” as under the ownership of the Cornelimünster abbey in Aachen. King Ludwig der Fromme (Louis the Pious) had given the village to that abbey in the 9th century. Because this property was so far away, the abbey appointed knights as bailiffs (stewards) and protectors. The lords of (Bolanden-)Hohenfels undertook this function. They had their seat at Burg Reichenstein. Over time, though, the knights became nothing more than robbers. In 1270, the abbey sold the whole parish of St. Clement to the church in Mainz. However, the robber knights kept up their nefarious ways until Emperor Rudolf I destroyed Burg Reichenstein in 1282 and put the robber knights to death near the Clemenskapelle (St. Clement’s Chapel). In 1290, Dietrich von Hohenfels unlawfully sold the rebuilt castle and Trechtingshausen to the Count Palatine. The territorial disagreements between Mainz and the Count Palatine were not worked out until 1344, when the town and castle passed for good to Mainz. The Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) brought much destruction, sorrow, and wretchedness to Trechtingshausen, and the plague beset the village for several years. When French Revolutionary troops occupied the east bank of the Rhine in the late 17th century, the ecclesiastical princes (including Mainz) were stripped of their holdings, and under French administration Trechtingshausen came under the mayoralty of Niederheimbach. In 1938, the village passed to Bacharach and in 1970 to the Mainz-Bingen district.

5:46 PM – Trechtingshausen: Burg Reichenstein on hill above town (mild telephoto 63 mm).

Burg Reichenstein: aerial view (By Traveler100 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7070767).

Over the village of Trechtingshausen is Burg Reichenstein. The name of the castle has varied over the centuries: Reichenstein in 1271; castrum Richenstein in 1290; Reichenstein again in 1313; Rychenstein in 1317; castrum de Rikistein in 1323; Rikenstein in 1324; Richenstein in 1329 and 1401; Reichenstein again in in 1620; Falkeburg in 1621; Kamingsburg before 1690; Phaltzburg around 1700 and 1720. Burg Morgenbach in 1811; Falkenburg or Falkenberg in 19th century; Reichenstein-Falkenburg in 1957. Etymologically, Reichenstein is derived from Middle High German rîch (modern German Reich, meaning rich, powerful) plus stein (modern German Stein, meaning stone, common in castle names) or from Middle High German phalze (meaning residence of a prince) plus berg (Modern German Berg, meaning mountain, common in castle names). In the early 19th century, it was briefly called Burg Morgenbach, after the Morgenbach stream that flows into the Rhine nearby. Because of the numerous Turmfalken (kestrels, small European falcons), the castle was known by its later 19th-centuty owners as Falkenburg.

The oldest parts of Burg Reichenstein suggest that it was built in the early 11th century. It was built by the bailiffs (stewards) of the Cornelimünster abbey, whose task was to protect the abbey’s possessions around Ober- and Niederheimbach. Since 1213, the bailiffs came from the Reinbode family of nobles from Bingen, who took over the administration of the castle in that year. Who actually built the castle remains unclear. It was probably built as a Vogtburg (bailiffs castle) that they claimed as a fief. The Reinbode bailiffs seized on the fact that the abbey was so far away and acted as the masters of the land, the people, the towpath, and the Rhine. They required traveling merchants to pay a toll at a toll station near the castle. As true “robber barons,” they also stole wares from traveling merchants and from ships traveling through the Rhine valley. However, not only travelers but also the surrounding population complained about the autocratic bailiffs. So the abbot of Cornelimünster asked the Archbishop of Mainz for “mutual assistance” and together they expelled the Reinbodes. Instead, they installed as bailiffs over Reichenstein and Trechtingshausen the lord of Philip von Bolanden, who promised not to harass anyone from the castle. In 1235, the castle has passed to Philip’s son Werner. When Werner died in 1241, his younger brother Philip von Hohenfels inherited the castle bailiwick. This lord proved to be one of the worst robber barons of his day. The abbey tried unsuccessfully to displace him from the castle, even with the help of the archbishops of Mainz and Cologne. Allegedly, Reichenstein and the disreputable castle lord withstood an attack in 1254 by the Rheinische Städtebund (League of Rhenish Cities). In 1270, the abbey sold its property to the church in Mainz, and Philip von Hohenfels reluctantly recognized the feudal authority of Mainz, with the condition that he was allowed to live in the castle. However, Philip (who died in 1277) and his son Dietrich did not abandon their raids, and Dietrich even dwarfed the reputation of his father as a robber baron. Emperor Rudolf von Hapsburg was a great foe of the robber barons. His army destroyed Reichenstein in 1282 and had its inhabitants beheaded as a warning to others. However, Dietrich managed to escape, and the castle was soon rebuilt. In 1290, the Cornelimünster abbey sold Reichenstein to the Count Palatine, although it had earlier sold it to the Mainz church. Also in 1290, Dietrich unlawfully sold the rebuilt castle and Trechtingshausen to the Counts Palatine, who were in a years-long dispute with the Archbishops of Mainz concerning rights to the castle. In 1297, King Adolf pledged Reichenstein to the Count of Katzenelnbogen. As Reichenstein threatened to slip away from him, the Archbishop of Mainz began building the castles Heimburg and Rheinstein. In 1311, the Cornelimünster abbey turned over Reichenstein and Trechtingshausen as a fief to the Counts Palatine (although the abbey had previously sold it in both 1270 and 1290). In 1344, Emperor Ludwig IV awarded the castle to the Archbishops of Mainz, who would retain ownership until the end of the 18th century. The old castle, originally built as a fortification, increasingly lost its military significance after the introduction of firearms. Already in 1514, it was described as decaying and dilapidated. In 1689, it was destroyed by French Revolutionary troops. In 1722, Mainz leased it to four winemaking families from Trechtingshausen, who planted vineyards on the castle hill and later became the owners of the ruins. The castle served as a toll station until the end of the 18th century.

Burg Reichenstein: engraving (before 1832) of ruins, then known as Falkenberg (By Henry Winkles - scan by User:Manfred Heyde, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2460207).

In 1834, during the 19th-century romantic period of new interest in the Middle Ages and castles, Reichenstein was acquired by an affluent general, who began to restore it according to old plans. During that work, he discovered numerous kestrels (Turmfalken) nesting in its walls and gave the castle the fantasy name Falkenburg. After a few other owners, it was purchased in 1899 by the iron-industrialist Kirsch-Puricelli family, who had it rebuilt as a neo-Gothic English-style castle residence on which they lived until 1936. Since 2014, the Kirsch-Puricelli family has been further restoring and modernizing it. It now houses a collection of weapons, armor, and hunting trophies that trace history for three centuries. And a hotel has been built on the outer bailey.

Burg Reichenstein is a good example of a Wohnturmburg (residential tower castle) without a Bergfried (keep), built either soon after the destruction of the older castle in 1282 or after the transition to Mainz control in 1344. Remaining from the original layout, the impressive shield wall on the north side is up to 8 m thick at its base and 16 m high, including the crenellated crown. On its east end is a polygonal, much renovated turret, and a second one is reconstructed over the southward-bending west end. The rest of the castle was greatly altered by the expansion around 1900 and the footprint partly distorted. The main castle behind the shield wall originally enclosed an inner courtyard, in the southeast corner of which a rectangular residential tower was built. This courtyard has now disappeared, except for a small space in which the round former staircase tower of the residential tower protrudes. There is double ring wall, the exterior one on the Rhine front with two late medieval round towers (15th century).

5:45 PM – Trechtingshausen: upper part of Burg Reichenstein on hill above town (telephoto 119 mm).

5:46 PM – Trechtingshausen: lower part of Burg Reichenstein on hill above town (telephoto 119 mm).

5:47 PM – Trechtingshausen: Burg Reichenstein “besieged” by campers on bank of Rhine (mild telephoto 63 mm).

5:47 PM – Trechtingshausen: looking back at Burg Reichenstein “besieged” by campers on bank of Rhine (mild telephoto 63 mm).

Near Burg Reichenstein, down along the Rhine a bit farther south, was the Clemenskapelle.

5:50 PM – Trechtingshausen: Clemenskapelle, apse end, on bank of Rhine, from northeast (telephoto 119 mm).

The Clemenskapelle (St. Clement's Chapel), or Friedhofskirche St. Clemens (Cemetery Church of St. Clement), is a late-Romanesque church building right on the bank of the Rhine about 1 km south of Trechtingshausen. The former parish church dedicated to St. Clement is now a cemetery chapel. First mentioned in 1212, it was built in the second quarter of the 13th century, on the site of older predecessors dating back to Roman times, and is largely unchanged. At the time of its construction, the “Sprengel” (parish) if St. Clemens was in the possession of the Cornelimünster abbey in far-away Aachen. The oldest part, probably from the beginning of the 13th century is the nave; the tower, transept, and apse are from the middle of the 13th century. The main changes from more recent times are the Gothic windows on the transept and apse and also Gothic corner pinnacles (14th century) on the tower. The top of the tower is probably Baroque. During the most recent renovation at the end of the 20th century, the colors of the plastered exterior walls were reconstructed. The exterior is relatively complex, with pilasters and a round-arch frieze. The building has a short triple nave, a transept, and a rounded apse. The asymmetrical west tower, at the end of the south aisle, is octagonal in the upper floors and has narrow windows like slits for firing weapons.

This chapel should not be confused with the present Pfarrkirche St. Clemens (Parish Church of St. Clement) from the 17th century, actually in the town of Trechtingshausen.

Just to the south of the Clemenskapelle is the smaller Michaelskapelle (St. Michael’s Chapel). This late-Gothic chapel dating back to the early 16th century was probably originally an ossuary. The exterior was heavily reformed in the 19th century and is painted to match the larger chapel.

5:52 PM – Trechtingshausen: Clemenskapelle – tower and apse from southeast, with smaller Michaelskapelle to left (telephoto 119 mm).

Next, also on the west bank, we came to Burg Rheinstein.

5:54 PM – Burg Rheinstein: approaching castle on west bank (mild telephoto 81 mm).

5:57 PM – Burg Rheinstein: on hill above west bank (mild telephoto 81 mm).

MT 5:53 PM – Burg Rheinstein: on hill above west bank (mild telephoto 92 mm).

Near Trechtingshausen, less than half a mile from Burg Reichenstein, still on the west side of the river, is Burg Rheinstein. It is perched on a crag 270 ft above the Rhine, offering a superb view of the river. The name Rheinstein (meaning Rhine stone) is an invention of the Romantic period of the 19th century. Built early in the 12th century, it was originally called Burg Bonifatiusberg (Castle St. Boniface Mountain), since St. Boniface was the patron saint of Mainz. Later, the name evolved: Voutsperg, Foutsberg, Votsberg, Foitsberg in 1346-50; Vauetsberg in 1354; Voitzberg in 1524; Facsburg in 1555; Kunigsburg in 1682; Pfatsberg around 1690; Phalzberg in 1712; Zollsschloß in 1811; Rheinstein in 1825.

Burg Rheinstein: aerial view (By Traveler100 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7070208).

Some sources say it was built around 900 AD to serve as a customs post for the Holy Roman Empire. According to other sources, it was built in 1241 by Werner IV von Bolanden and passed to Philip von Hohenfels on his death. According to another view, Philip von Hohenfels himself built the medieval castle as a Vorburg (fore-castle to protect another castle) for Burg Reichenstein. However, modern dendrochronological evidence (tree ring analysis of installed timbers) accurately places the start of construction in about 1316-17. It was probably built by the Archbishop of Mainz as a counter-castle to the Reichenstein, which was then claimed by the Counts Palatine.

The area between Trechtingshausen and Niederheimbach was the northwestern part of the possessions of the Archbishop of Mainz and an old borderland. The bailiffs (stewards) of the neighboring castles Reichenstein and Sooneck, the lords of Bolanden-Hohenfels and later the Counts Palatine, were opponents of Mainz. Rheinstein was used by the robber barons until they were flushed from their roost in 1252, when the enraged Rheinischer Bund (Rhine League) reduced it to ruins. Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg is said to have resided at Rheinstein in 1282 in order to plan the action against robber barons in those neighboring castles. Although the castle would remain a possession of Mainz until the end of the 18th century, its management changes hands several times. By 1344, the castle  had lost its strategic importance and was in decline, and by 1524 it was described as dilapidated. Rheinstein crumbled further under the fury of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). During the War of Palatine Succession (1688-97), it was so dilapidated that the French didn’t bother to destroy it, as they did with all the other castles of the Rhine Valley. In 1779, it was sold to Baron Mathias von Eyß, an official of the Elector of Trier, and in 1786 it was described as in ruins. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Eyß family gradually sold its property, and in 1822, another baron bought the castle for a mere four thalers. In 1823, the Prussian Prince Friedrich Ludwig von Hohenzollern bought the complex, which was hardly more than rubble, and in 1825-29 had it restored it in pseudo-Gothic style, in the spirit of the Rhine Romanticism of the 19th century, as a summer residence. At that time, he changed the name from Vogtsburg (meaning bailiff’s castle) to Rheinstein, because of its impressive cliffs above the river. Prussian princes owned it and lived nearby until 1975, when they sold the castle, in serious need of renovation, to the opera singer Hermann Hecher. Hecher undertook a renovation that lasted 20 years, not only because its imposing position on a steep rock had become a symbol of romantic castle reconstruction, but also as an attraction of the Rhine Valley. His family made it into a museum, now open to the public.

5:58 PM – Burg Rheinstein: sign on dock ramp for “Burg Rheinstein” (telephoto 187 mm).

5:58 PM – Burg Rheinstein: on hill above west bank (mild telephoto 72 mm).

MT 5:54 PM – Burg Rheinstein: on hill above west bank (mild telephoto 92 mm).

MT 5:55 PM – Burg Rheinstein: on hill (mild telephoto 92 mm).

5:59 PM – Burg Rheinstein: on solid rock with small chapel at lower left.

5:59 PM – Burg Rheinstein: small chapel downhill to left from castle (telephoto 105 mm).

The neo-Gothic Kapelle auf Burg Rheinstein (Chapel at Rheinstein Castle) was built in 1839-44. Prince Friedrich of Prussia, who had the chapel built, was buried in its crypt in 1863, as were his wife in 1882 and his son in 1902.

6:00 PM – Burg Rheinstein: from southeast, with small chapel downhill (mild telephoto 63 mm).

Rheinstein castle still has a working drawbridge and portcullis. Just past the entrance is the courtyard, known as the Burgundy Garden, after the 500-year-old vine there that still produced Burgundy grapes. From the garden, steps lead up to the main part of the castle, and more steps lead down to the castle chapel.

MT 5:56 PM – Burg Rheinstein: from southeast, with small chapel downhill between castle and highway by river bank (mild telephoto 92 mm).

The next town, on the east bank, was Assmannshausen.

6:02 PM – Assmannshausen: town with cruise boats on river bank and vineyards up hill behind it (mild telephoto 63 mm).

Assmannshausen (pop. 980) is a charming village famed for its red wine (Assmannshäuser, which resembles red Burgundy), outdoor restaurants, wine-sipping establishments, and top-flight restaurants. In 1108, the Archbishop of Mainz gave to the Dissibodenburg cloister, on the nearby Nahe tributary of the Rhine, a hillside vineyard called Hasemanneshusen. The village was also called Hasemanneshusen until 1500, when the H disappeared. The village probably developed around the year 1000 from a Frankish settlement but remained small and unimportant. However, it had its own church by 1325 and court of lay assessors already in 1361. Documents from 1350, 1354, and 1460 show that, during the territorial disputes between the Archbishops of Mainz and the Counts Palatine, Assmannshausen, the Faitzburg (today Burg Rheinstein), Burg Reichenstein, Bacharach, and Lorch had agreed on a local peace. From 1803 to 1866, Assmannshausen belonged to the Duchy of Nassau. Since 1977, it has been incorporated into the city of Rüdesheim.

6:02 PM – Assmannshausen: two cruise boats by river bank; larger one has “Assmanns[hausen]” painted on its side (telephoto 119 mm).

6:05 PM – Assmannshausen: screen by Viking Skadi reception desk showing the ship’s position at Assmannshausen, just before a large bend in the Rhine; we later discovered we could get this type of screen on the TV in our stateroom.

MT 6:00 PM – Assmannshausen: close-up of screen by Viking Skadi reception desk showing the ship’s position at Assmannshausen.

Then we came to Burg Ehrenfels, also on the east bank.

6:14 PM – Burg Ehrenfels: above vineyards of east bank, probably with Bingen in distance around bend on west bank (mild telephoto 56 mm).

The noble mass of ruins just after Assmannshausen is Burg Ehrenfels. It is located on the steep eastern bank of the Rhine, amid extensive  vineyards. It was built (or rebuilt) about 1212 at the behest of the Archbishop of Mainz as a defensive work against the constant attacks of the Count Palatine. Here, Mainz erected a customs post (toll station) controlling shipping on the Rhine, supplemented by the Mäuseturm (Mice Tower) below at the river. In the Middle Ages, it was strategically of great importance because of its favorable location above the Bingen Loch, a narrow place near the bend in the Rhine. It was heavily damaged during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) and finally destroyed by the French in 1689.  Even today, the ruin is still impressive in its monumental structure.

6:15 PM – Burg Ehrenfels: view from northwest, surrounded by vineyards (telephoto 156 mm).

6:16 PM – Burg Ehrenfels: view from west, surrounded by vineyards (telephoto 119 mm).

On the opposite (west) side from Burg Ehrenfels was the Mäuseturm.

6:16 PM – Mäuseturm: approaching tower on west bank, with Bingen in background (at this point, Don’s camera ran out of battery power).

6:16 PM (Cropped) – Mäuseturm: approaching tower on west bank, with Bingen in background (at this point, Don’s camera ran out of battery power).

On a small island in the Rhine near Bingen is the Mäuseturm (Mice Tower), sometimes called the Binger Mäuseturm (Bingen Mice Tower) since it is near that city. According to some sources, the Romans were the first to build a structure on this site; it later became part of Franconia and had to be rebuilt several times; Archbishop Hatto II of Mainz (in office 968-70) restored the tower in 968. According to an unsubstantiated legend, in 970 Archbishop Hatto tricked a band of protesting peasants into entering a barn, by promising the hungry people food there. Once they were inside, he had his servants bar the doors and set the barn afire, burning the peasants to death. Millions of mice are said to have emerged from the burning structure. They chased the bishop, who fled by boat to the tower. The hordes of mice pursued him into the tower, nibbled through the massive door, and devoured the evil archbishop. This folk tale provides one explanation for the name of the tower, although  similar tales were told about other cruel rulers. However, the story also refers to Hatto’s demand for tribute or a toll (muta in Old High German or Maut in later German). Thus, as well as its later function as a toll collection tower, provides the explanation that it was originally called Mautturm (toll tower), which eventually evolved into Mäuseturm. Another etymological explanation is that the first part of the name evolved from the Middle High German müsen (to watch), since it was a watchtower.

According to some sources, a first castle may have existed in 1298, but more likely it was built in the first half of the 14th century. Other sources date the construction only between 1346 and 1371. Despite disagreements regarding the date of construction, the function of this castle is indisputable: as a watchtower in connection with the toll castle Ehrenfels and the city of Bingen. It is also certain that the Archbishop of Mainz had the tower built. In its original state, it was a four-story square tower with a pointed roof and turrets on the corners. On the northeast corner was a hexagonal stair tower, and the east side was designed as a triangular icebreaker.

Ship being towed by horses on tow path across from Mäuseturm (then called Maüßthurn) in 1636 (Von Wenzel Hollar - Eigener Scan, Gemeinfrei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61309809).

Burg Ehrenfels with Zollhaus (toll house) on east bank of Rhine, with Mäuseturm (then called Meüsthurn) in 1655 engraving (Gemeinfrei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8235902).

During the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48), the tower was a strategically important point, and from 1631 it was occupied several times by the opposing forces and was heavily damaged. In 1689, it was destroyed down to its foundations by the French during the War of Palatine Succession. After 1815, the ruin became a significant border marker of the Rhine province of the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1855, the Prussian king had the ruin restored and converted it into a signal tower. The result was a four-story square tower with a taller hexagonal stair tower on the northeast corner, all in neo-Gothic style with crenellated tops. Until 1974, when the channel was widened, it served as a signal station for shipping around the narrow Bingen Loch.

Mäuseturm with Burg Ehrenfels on other side of Rhine (By Photo: Arcalino / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24829570).

At 6:45, we went to the Port Talk in the ship’s lounge, where Joey, the Cruise Director, officially announced that we would be switching ships. We would take a bus (3.5 hours) from Nuremberg to Passau, where we would board the Viking Bragi. (The following morning. Hotel Manager Heiner Ostrowski, explained that, once we boarded at Passau, we would be bussed back to Regensburg, so we would not miss any shore excursions.)

At 7 pm, we went to dinner in the Viking Skadi restaurant.