Sinzenich Castle

The moated castle Burg Sinzenich is located between Sinzenich and Linzenich, both districts of Zülpich in the Euskirchen district in North Rhine-Westphalia on the Rotbach river. Its address is Zülpich-Sinzenich, Ritterstr. 15.

Between the 13th and 15th centuries, a noble family of Sinzenich is verifiable. From 1374, the Lords of Gertzen were the castle owners. From 1380, they were enfeoffed with the castle by the Duke. In 1500, Sinzenich was elevated to a sub-lordship. The first sub-lord, a Wirich von Gertzen called Sinzenich, extensively expanded the castle. His father lived in Burg Langendorf at that time. The last Lord of Sinzenich was Johann von Gertzen, a Jülich cavalry captain and imperial colonel. His heiress daughter Agnes brought the castle to her husband Arnold von Elverfeld in 1653. In 1667, it was received by their son-in-law Johann Heinrich von Holtrop zu Irnich. The castle was significantly damaged by an earthquake in 1755. As a result, the manor house collapsed in 1769 and was not rebuilt. Ownership changed hands several times through inheritance. The von Mosbach family began to build a manor house next to the ruin of the old castle, but it was never completed. In 1794, the privileges were lost, and in 1835, the castle was removed from the registers of the Prussian knightly estates eligible for the Landtag. The lands were parceled out. The remaining buildings came into bourgeois hands. Several fires reduced everything to rubble and ashes in 1895. A Zülpich manufacturer rebuilt the former southwest wing of the medieval outer bailey. Part of the outer bailey moat was refilled with water.

The formerly three-winged outer bailey was accessible from the side. It has disappeared except for its ground plan, which is still discernible from the island shape, and some walls. The manor house ruin stands east of the outer bailey in a pond that is now silted up.

The castle was entered into the monument list of the city of Zülpich on September 24, 1981, under number 3.