Vianden Castle was built between the 11th and 14th centuries on the foundations of a Roman fort and a Carolingian refuge. Characterized by the Hohenstaufen family, the palace palace is one of the largest and most beautiful feudal residences of the Romanesque and Gothic times in Europe.
Up until the 15th century it was the residence of the powerful Counts of Vianden, who boasted of their connections to the German imperial court and whose most important count, Heinrich I (1220-1250), was married to a blood relative of the Capetians, the Queen of France. In 1417, the county and the castle were inherited by the younger line of the German house Nassau, which in 1530 also incorporated the French principality of Orange. The chapel, the Little Pallas and the Big Pallas, the most remarkable rooms of the castle, were built towards the end of the 12th and during the first half of the 13th century. The Jülich building to the west of the great Pallas (it no longer exists today) dates back to the beginning of the 14th century, the Nassau building was not built until the beginning of the 17th century.
In 1820, under the rule of King William I of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Count of Vianden, the sale of the castle and the subsequent dismantling of its individual parts led to it in ruins. In 1890 the castle fell to Grand Duke Adolf, the older line of the House of Nassau, and remained in the possession of the grand ducal family. After the castle was taken over by the state in 1977, it was restored to its former splendor and is now one of the most important architectural monuments in Europe.
Opening times: Daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Source: https: //castle-vianden.lu/