로만티셔 라인‬에서 가장 멋진 ‪20‬개의 동굴

The value and significance of the Marksburg lie primarily in its complete preservation as a medieval fortification. For many visitors it is the epitome of a medieval castle. Its exposed location on a rocky cone 90 meters above the town of Braubach contributes to this. The imposing fortress with buildings mainly from the 13th to 15th centuries is staggered with a keep, several buildings, kennels and bastions. The typical interior rooms such as the castle kitchen, knights' hall, bower, chapel, armory, wine cellar, battlements and tower rooms are particularly worth seeing. They provide insights into medieval life.

The first documented mention of the hilltop castle dates back to 1213, when the Imperial Abbey of Kornelimünster near Aachen appointed Philipp III von Bolanden as "castellanus" and governor. Experts partly doubt or reject the first conquest in 1253. What is certain is the siege, conquest and destruction by King Rudolph of Habsburg in 1282. The castle was banned from being rebuilt. From 1290 onwards, the ruins were owned by the Counts Palatine, who gave them up in favour of the Electorate of Mainz in 1344. A new building was then quickly constructed. A double ring wall enclosed a rectangular residential tower and an inner courtyard of the main castle. A forecourt was located to the north. In 1397, after the Pope had appointed John II of Nassau Archbishop of Mainz, ignoring the election of the Mainz Cathedral Chapter the previous year, Archbishop Gottfried von Leiningen, elected in 1396, barricaded himself in the castle. Only after tough negotiations did he give up the bishop's seat and was instead given the office of provost of Mainz Cathedral. His concession prevented another attack on the castle and possible further destruction. The castle had been left to decay since the 16th century. The remains were blown up in 1689 during the War of the Palatinate Succession. In 1834 Franz Wilhelm von Barfus bought the ruins and converted a tower into his residence. His heirs sold the castle to Baron von Rehfuß in 1877 and he sold it to Consul Chosodowsky in 1889. The castle was given its current appearance by Baron Nikolaus von Kirsch-Puricelli, a wealthy industrialist and owner of the Rheinböllerhütte. From 1899 to 1902, Kirsch-Puricelli had the castle rebuilt into a neo-Gothic residential castle in the Tudor style according to plans by the Regensburg architect Strebel. Additional residential buildings and an observation tower were built on the site of the outer castle. Reichenstein was the last castle in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley to be rebuilt in the spirit of Rhine Romanticism. After the castle was sold by the family in the 1990s, media entrepreneur Lambert Lensing-Wolff, a descendant of the Kirsch-Puricelli family, acquired Reichenstein Castle in 2014 as a weekend residence and also runs a museum and a hotel with a restaurant here.

The Lahn rises at the Lahntopf near Lahnhof in the southeastern Rothaar Mountains at an altitude of 625 m and flows into the Rhine in Lahnstein at an altitude of about 69 m at Rhine kilometer 585.7. The right or eastern tributary of the Rhine has a length of 245.6 km.

Stolzenfels Castle is a feast for the eyes.

A visit to this new palace and its gardens is also well worth it.

Beautiful view from the bike path up to the castle

Great view of the castle which is still well preserved.

The castle has its origins in the early 14th century. With its towers and battlements, it really looks like you would imagine a medieval castle to be - a fairytale view directly over the Rhine.