Longuich Castle

Longuich Castle, also known as the Old Castle, is a fortified house at 130 m above sea level at Maximinstr. 39, corner Burgstraße in Longuich in the Trier-Saarburg district in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The local castle was built by Knight Platt von Longuich as a residential castle and was mentioned in 1360 as a fief of the Imperial Abbey of St. Maximin. After the castle fell into disrepair in the 15th century, Platt von Longuich received permission from Archbishop and Elector Johann II of Trier in 1496 to fortify the house and equipped it with oriels and a battlement in late Gothic style. Through inheritance, the house passed to the Lords of Bentzerath, von Geispitzheim, von Laudolph, Merl von Retenich and others. In 1666, the castle was divided before the knight's court due to disputes between the owners, and in 1696, Abbot Alexander Adam von Retenich granted the right to press grapes.

After the Abbey of St. Maximin bought the Old Castle at the end of the 18th century, the third floor was demolished in 1790 and a gabled roof was added, giving it its current appearance. Since the secularization in 1803, after being sold to the Mertes family, one half of the fortified house was used for agriculture and the other half as an oil mill from 1812 onwards. In 1980, both halves were restored and used for gastronomy.

The late Gothic Old Castle is a rare testimony to medieval noble private fortifications in rural areas. The historical quality and the artistic design of the late Gothic rooms as well as the late Gothic exterior facade were preserved during the subsequent alterations. In 1967, the historic castle cellar, which served as a barrel storage until 1956, was converted into a wine tavern. From 1980 to 1987, the large knight's hall in the castle tower was restored and the knight's parlor was recreated. In 1996, the castle roof was renewed and the exterior facade was conserved, preserving the old timberwork. From 2002 to 2005, significant restoration work was carried out on the servant's house, which until then had been used for residential and viticultural purposes.