Hüls Castle

Construction of the castle began in 1455 after Archbishop Dietrich II of Moers granted permission to Knight Friedrich von Hüls to build a castle in the marshland east of Hüls. The knightly family of the Lords of Hüls ruled the area from this castle until the 16th century. In 1565, the last Lady of Hüls, Katharina, died without direct heirs. The castle suffered multiple destructions in the 16th and 17th centuries, including during the Cologne War and the Thirty Years' War. The manor house finally collapsed on Pentecost night in 1686, leaving the castle as a ruin. After losing their sovereign rights in the early 19th century, the Hüls noble families gifted the castle to the children of the last bailiff, Anno Laurenz Rosen. Franziska Rosen, the last bailiff's daughter, bequeathed the ruin to the Catholic parish of St. Cyriakus in 1843. After 1950, the then-independent municipality of Hüls acquired the castle ruin. Extensive clearing and excavation work was carried out between 1954 and 1958 under the direction of Professor Albert Steeger. By the end of the 20th century, the ruin was in very poor condition.