Reichenberg Castle

Reichenberg Castle is a medieval castle complex above the municipality of Reichenberg in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany).

Since 2002, Reichenberg Castle has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley.

Due to the location of the hilltop castle in the Hasenbach Valley behind St. Goarshausen on the Rhine, it is relatively unknown, yet one of the most significant and unusual castle complexes in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The builders were the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, who had developed from sub-bailiffs into one of the most powerful noble families of the German Middle Ages. Construction began under Count Wilhelm I in 1319. At his death in 1331, only the habitable shield wall with its two 40-meter-high flanking towers, the eastern outer bailey, and the foundations of the western main castle were completed. In 1352, the heirs Eberhard and Wilhelm II of Katzenelnbogen divided the castle between them. Wilhelm II reversed the original concept and built his castle on the site of the outer bailey. By 1358, a spacious residential building was erected, secured with casemates facing east and south – the oldest in Germany. The three-story, semi-circular residential building features unusual column constructions for Central Europe and shows architectural details that trace back to Syrian Crusader castles.

In 1479, the castle passed to Hesse through inheritance and remained with Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg for a long time. From 1649–51, a restoration took place after a siege. However, the structure quickly lost its military value and was soon only used as an administrative seat, for which grain stores and barns were built. Until 1806, Reichenberg was a Hessian fortress and from 1821 was then sold "for demolition" – which largely did not occur – to Moses Aron. The castle enthusiast archivist Friedrich Gustav Habel acquired the castle in 1836 and contributed significantly to its preservation. In 1880, Baron Wolfgang von Oettingen newly erected a historicizing residential building in the west. The von Oettingen family owned the castle until 1956 and made great efforts to secure the structure.