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Founded: 1332Category: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Habsburg Dynasty (Germany)
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The Rauschenburg Castle is the medieval ruin located above the Ehrbach stream in the parish of Mermuth. In 1332 the Archbishop of Trier, Baldwin of Luxembourg, built the Rauschenburg during the Eltz Feud. It acted as a counter castle designed to defeat his opponents, the joint tenants of the castles of Waldeck, Schöneck and Ehrenburg who were rebelling against their vassal status. Later tenants of the castle, which was enfeoffed by the Archbishopric of Trier, was divided among several families, including the Schönecks, von Eichs, Waldbott of Bassenheim and Boos of Waldeck).
The castles comprises a pentagonal enceinte. Almost the entire site was surrounded by a second lower defensive wall. On the uphill side was a neck ditch cuts across the saddle and would have formed the first obstacle to any attack. The remains of the gateway and foundations of the bridge may still be seen there. In the inner bailey are the ruins of residential buildings. In the centre of the western part of the enceinte are the remains of a tower, perhaps the old bergfried. In addition, the site is accessed via two surviving gates. A third gate in the southeastern section of the outer wall was probably wall up in the Middle Ages.
References:Towering 52 meters above the sea, Bengtskär lighthouse is the tallest one in Scandinavia. The building started in in 1905 after the shipwreck of S/S Helsingfors and was completed in 1906. The lighthouse was designed by architect Florentin Granholm. On December a special petrol lantern, designed and built in Paris, was brought to Bengtskär and installed atop the tower.
German fleet bombarded Bengstkär in the First World War in 1914. Since the Gulf of Finland was heavily mined, it was not until 1919 that the surrounding seas were declared safe for shipping, that the light was lit again.
After the war the military value of Bengtskär increased as part of the defence system of independent Finland. In Second World War (1941) Soviet Union made a suprise attack to island. After a bloody battle, the small Finnish garrison emerged victorious. Intermittent repairs to the facility continued during the post-war period.