The stately Thiergarten - hunting trophies for the nobility
Landgrave Philipp the Elder von Katzenelnbogen ascended the count's chair in 1444 after the death of his father Johann IV. He gave up his father's lavish agriculture and leased part of the land for appropriate taxes. After buying extensive land from the Prüm Monastery himself, he had a 2 km long wall built for an animal garden (game reserve) from 1445, whereby the dam of the upper pond was integrated into the curtain wall. From the remains of the wall it can be seen that the wall was approx. 1 m wide and probably 2 m high. The outside was walled with hewn stones, the interiors were probably filled with rubble and smaller stones. The immense amount of stones required could conveniently be obtained from the adjacent quarry. Philip the Elder, who was known for his luxurious court life, had obviously created a prestige object with the Thiergarten, with which he could impress his guests. He housed a large number of game in the approximately 18 hectare enclosure. That did not change under the subsequent rule of the Hessian counts. Chroniclers explained: “When Marshal Bouffleur approached Rheinfels on November 19, 1688, he opened the princely Thiergarten, killed 4 deer and blew up some 50 deer in the city forest.” When Rheinfels Castle had served its purpose as a residence in the 18th century, it was lost the animal garden its importance. The land was leased to local farmers and the walls fell into disrepair. The courtyard with outbuildings that had been in the Thiergarten had been demolished at the end of the 18th century. With the privatization of the site in the 19th century, the traces of this history gradually disappeared. Source: Text information board - compiled by the "Biebernheimer Geschichte (n)" chronicle team