Limburg Castle

Today, some rooms serve as the city archive. In addition, the Catholic Italian and Portuguese church communities of Limburg have their rooms there. Some rooms are used by the cathedral music of the Diocese of Limburg.

In 2003, the city of Limburg presented a usage concept that envisioned the establishment of a city museum. However, the sometimes considerable structural damage had to be remedied first. The so-called Renaissance building in the northeast of the complex was most affected. The subsoil there was unstable, causing the northeast corner to slowly sink and cracks to appear in the masonry. The roof of the Renaissance building also showed damage. In 2009, work began to stabilize the subsoil, followed by work on the entire southeastern row of buildings the following year. The remaining buildings, built after 1929, will not be renovated.

The castle consists of several buildings from different eras, which surround a courtyard open to the north towards the Lahn. The state of development in the early Middle Ages can no longer be reconstructed today. The residential tower, measuring approximately 11 by 10.5 meters, was probably built around 1250 under Gerlach I of Limburg. The tower has a vaulted cellar and three above-ground floors. On the ground floor is a once representative hall with a nine-part rib vault on wall columns with early Gothic leaf capitals. The second hall on the first floor is more simply designed. The current roof dates from 1652.

To the south of the residential tower is the Chapel of St. Peter, which was built in the 11th century and later extended. The "foundation" documented for 1298 was merely a re-dedication of the older chapel, combined with a structural redesign. The chapel is thus the oldest preserved part of the castle. The altar area is simply designed. Only the three-part Gothic tracery window, ornamental paintings in the apse, and especially an early Gothic mural from around 1300 on the north wall, depicting Saint Christopher, are prominent. The lower half of the painting was probably destroyed in the 19th century by a doorway. In 1534, a residential building was erected above the chapel.

Further south rises a large hall building, which was built after 1379. Striking is the unusually large hall on the first floor, measuring 7.3 by 29 meters, which is dominated by a correspondingly large late Gothic fireplace. The south wall is broken by five windows in round-arched niches with stone mullions and hollow profiles. The ground floor was used as a kitchen and later as a stable.

To the north of the residential tower is the so-called "Renaissance building" from around 1600. Above a stone ground floor rises a half-timbered structure with Franconian bay windows and curved gables. In front of the Baroque building stands an octagonal, slate-covered stair tower with a wooden spiral staircase. Until about 1800, the castle well, fed by a pipe system, was located in front of the entrance to the ground floor.

The south side of the courtyard is closed by a stone porch, on which rests a half-timbered construction with an open arcaded walk facing the courtyard. This is a reconstruction of the Gothic hall building that burned down in 1929.

In the west, a barn was built against the remains of the shield wall in 1779, which burned down in 1929 and was rebuilt in a modified form as a school building. Previously, this area probably contained an outer bailey with several knight's houses. To the north are the gate and then a residential building with a hip roof from 1720, which served as a Trier cellar building and today houses the sacristy of the cathedral. The garden on the open north side of the courtyard was laid out in the 19th century. Around 1780, a summer house stood there under two lime trees. Also around this time, there was still a moat with a bridge in front of the gate.

In the inner courtyard, the gravestones of several Trier administrative officials and clerics of the collegiate church are displayed.

According to the Limburg chronicler Johann Mechtel, the entire area was surrounded by a shield wall with several towers and the "Eulentor" (Owl Gate) as the only access. This gate is said to have been demolished in 1569. Only small remnants of the shield wall and towers remain today. When the defensive system was dismantled is unknown. At further distances, two additional lower walls were drawn around the collegiate church, castle, and parts of the old town, which are still visible in sections today.