Fortress Rüsselsheim

In 1399, the first documented mention of a castle belonging to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen appears, serving to secure their southern territory. From 1479, when Rüsselsheim fell to the Landgraviate of Hesse under Henry III, the expansion into a true fortress began. By 1546, a complex with ramparts, moats, and five bastions was completed. In the centuries that followed, the fortress played a role in the defense of Hesse. After the defeat in the Schmalkaldic War, Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous had to surrender the fortress to Emperor Charles V in 1547, who ordered its demolition. Reconstruction took place between 1560 and 1563.