Stahleck Castle, Bacharach, Germany

The exact building year of Stahleck castle is not known, but it has been proved that the castle was already occupied since the year 1095. It's first mentioned in documents in the year 1135 under Goswin von Hochstadt. Until 1148 almost 10 years of fight followed for the rights of the Stahleck.

In the year 1156, after the death of Hermann of Stahleck, his stepbrother Konrad von Hohenstaufen became count palatine of Bacharach on the Rhine river. The town of Bacharach, which is situated on the castle mountain, became center and residence of the originating palatine territory on the Rhine river. Castle Stahleck, which was originally the most farthest southern situated property of the Cologne bishops, was assigned from the emporer Barbarossa to his brother Konrad in the year 1190.

In the Thirty Years' War, in year 1644, as the Catholic party banished the French out of the town with 250 cavalries and 450 Cologne foot soldiers, these fled into the castle Stahleck. Colonel of Nievernheimb, commander on the fortress Ehrenbreitstein, let the castle Stahleck near Bacharach at the Rhine river thereupon be fired at without occupying it. Th restoration was made in 1666 by the elector count palatine Carl Ludwig.

Between January and May 1689 the Stahleck castle was exploded by the french troops from Ludwig XIV. 237 years it was in a ruins, until the crown prince of Preußen bought the area in 1828. Rhine river society accomplished restoration work in 1909 and 1910.

Starting at the end of 1965 until May 20, 1967, the youth hostel was further constructed on the castle Stahleck. Thereby the in the substructure still original roman Bergfried of the castle Stahleck with abated wall strength was newly roofed and furnished with new walls. Today it expresses the picture of a medieval castle with different construction phases and is one of the most well-known youth hostels.

References:

bacharach-germany.com

User Reviews

Katie (2 years ago)
The most amazing hostel experience! I booked a 8 ppl shared room but I ended up using it all by myself!! Haha. It was super clean and smelled good too. Amazing view! Great castle accomodation

Radoš Lazarević (2 years ago)
Great views! It's always worth a visit. You can either hike from the town center, or park above the castle and take a short walk. Awesome terrace to have a drink, coffee or a cake.

Timo Oehlandt (2 years ago)
Impressive castle to look at and also excellent views from the caste. That's about what good is in the castle. The room's are small. The food is terrible at restaurant. Breakfast was ok. Go visit and enjoy the views, pass anything else.

J Gongora (2 years ago)
I had a very amazing time at an event held over the weekend at the castle. The venue itself is amazing and the views from it are breath taking. Be ready for a workout if you are going by foot as it’s quite an ascent. The one thing I didn’t like was feeling rushed to depart very early, and the language barrier with the staff made it hard to communicate, I left feeling like they could have been just a tad more helpful. Still I had the most memorable time of my trip in here and I’d recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Justine Roo (2 years ago)
Lovely Hostel. Rooms were clean and comfortable. Fantastic service from the staff. Beautiful location of course. We forgot to purchase a youth hostel stamp card which you need to stay there and the staff were kind enough to help us out. Much easier if you have one already. If you are backpacking be prepared to do some stair climbing. It's the easiest way to get there from the town but it is a good work out.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright discopalace

Historic Site of the week

Sigmaringen Castle

Sigmaringen Castle was first mentioned in the year 1077 in the chronicles of Petershausen monastery. The oldest parts of the castle are concealed beneath the alterations made during the 17th and the 19th centuries. The secret of the earliest settlement built on this defendable rock will never be fully revealed: large-scale excavation work would be necessary, which the extensive land development renders impossible. Judging from the many Roman remains unearthed in the area around Sigmaringen, the 12th century keep known as the 'Roman Tower' could be traced back to a Roman predecessor.

The castle remains that have been preserved (gate, great hall and keep) date back to the Staufer period around 1200. The castle remains were integrated into subsequent buildings. The foundations of the castle buildings are to a large extent identical to the surrounding castle wall.

These remains give us a good idea of how the castle might have looked during the 12th century.

Stahleck Castle

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historic Site of the week

Sigmaringen Castle