Bertradaburg Castle

The Bertradaburg is the ruin of a hilltop castle on a 348 m above sea level rock spur above the municipality of Mürlenbach in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate. It is thus located in the geographical center of the Merovingian Frankish Empire.

The castle was built on the remains of a Roman fort, which probably served to protect the Roman road Trier-Cologne. According to local tradition, Bertrada, the mother of Charlemagne, is said to have lived in the castle, which suggests his birth around 747. The existence of the castle is only documented in the 13th century as a state fortress of the princely Imperial Abbey of Prüm (compare the Middle Rhenish Charter Book), but archaeological findings speak for predecessor buildings of the castle complex.

After the Prüm monastery was occupied and damaged by French revolutionary troops from 1794 to 1802, Mürlenbach Castle came into private ownership through secularization and was auctioned off.

At the end of the 20th century, the still preserved castle walls and buildings were restored by the Tiepelmann family, and above all, the 30-meter-high ruined double-tower gate, which was state-owned, was restored with state funds. In 2009, the new owners were granted subsidies from the federal and state budgets of Rhineland-Palatinate for the securing and renovation of the five-meter-thick south-west rondel from the 16th century. The curtain wall from the 13th century was also renovated with funding from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.