Grevenburg Castle Ruins, Traben-Trarbach, Germany

Grevenburg castle was built in 1350 by Count Johann III of Sponheim-Starkenburg and replaced Castle Starkenburg as the residence of the Rear County of Sponheim. With the extinction of the ruling male line of the Rhenish branch of the House of Sponheim in 1437 the castle became seat of the bailiff of the new Counts to Sponheim.

In 1680 it was conquered by Louis XIV of France and was extended, together with the fort of Mont Royal in the horshoe bend of the Mosel north of the town of Traben-Trarbach as a part of the fortifications. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), in 1702 it was taken by the French under Taillardin and in 1704 on the express orders of the commanding officer John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough it was overpowered by Friedrich das Wehrschloss. The badly damaged castle was then occupied by the Dutch. In 1730 it was repaired by the Electorate of Trier for the defence of Koblenz and the Rhine river. In the War of the Polish Succession it was taken after three weeks' siege for the fourth and last time by the French who destroyed it in July 1734. The castle was blown up, huge chunks of it have plunged into the valley beneath.

Of the castle, although only the western wall of the former keep remains, the foundations are largely intact.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Tom Elliott (9 months ago)
We stumbled across this by accident, but it was totally worth it! The drive up is not for the faint hearted but the view from the top is more than worth it! There is also an “experienced hiker” trail up the top which takes you up through some ruins via a spiral staircase towards the tonof the hill

Greg Sutton (2 years ago)
Several nice walks lead to this picturesque ruin. An exciting climb between the middle and the top adds to the experience

Katrin Arp (3 years ago)
This castle ruin is amazing! There are a few diffraction ways to get to it. You can start on foot below and hike up a small path! Be warned, this path is a bit challenging, but it it comes with rewarding views. You can also drive your car almost directly to it, which is really nice. The small Café has delicious food options and beer and wine. The staff is very friendly. There are a lot of seating options and the views are spectacular! It's a great place to spend a few hours to relax, enjoy and unplug!

Sreeram Sadasivam (3 years ago)
Awesome hiking experience. If you need to hike there are two trails one via a stairs which starts to the right side of the main bridge and another is the waldweg which starts on the left side of the bridge. We had taken the waldweg. It was really adventurous and scary. The trail is extremely narrow and steep. When you reach the top, the view is really amazing. It is a real shame the French army in the 18th century destroyed this beautiful castle. The view towards the Moselle river is breathtaking. It is good spot for picnic.

Landy Tianxuan Liu (3 years ago)
We saw this castle ruin in saturated red light from below on a foggy night and it looked super spooky! So we walked straight to it and took a completely dark and muddy path…would not recommend. But the view up there is amazing and it was nice to have the entire ruin to ourselves. Though seriously this town needs some designers to fix their choices of lighting colors.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright discopalace

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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.

Grevenburg Castle Ruins

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