Rhine Gorge Castle Register

Castles of the Upper Middle Rhine, listed and described

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RegisterThe castles, listed

Ordered downstream to upstream is impossible to do sensibly on a river that doubles back, so this is ordered alphabetically. River kilometres are approximate and are given for orientation against the standard Rhine chainage.

Register of castles — 8 entries
CastlePlaceChainageBuiltCondition
MarksburgBraubachrkm 580c. 1117; first documented 1231Complete; never destroyed
PfalzgrafensteinKaub (mid-river)rkm 5461326/27Complete; restored
RheinfelsSankt Goarrkm 556from 1245Extensive ruin; museum, hotel
RheinsteinTrechtingshausenrkm 533c. 1316/17; rebuilt 1825–1844Rebuilt; museum
StahleckBacharachrkm 543early 12th c.; blown up 1689; rebuilt 1909–1935Rebuilt; youth hostel
StolzenfelsKoblenzrkm 5881259; rebuilt 1836–1842Rebuilt; open to the public
Maus (Thurnberg)Wellmich, Sankt Goarshausenrkm 559from 1356Standing; restored 1900–1906
SchönburgOberweselrkm 550early 12th c.; destroyed 1689Part ruin, part rebuilt; hotel
On completeness. This register covers the castles with substantial standing fabric that can be visited or clearly seen from the public river bank. It omits sites reduced to foundations, of which there are many, and it omits the town fortifications except where they are inseparable from a castle. Additions are welcome.

Conventions used

“First documented” means the earliest surviving charter or record naming the site. “Built c.” without a document reference means the date is traditional. Where the oldest datable fabric is later than the traditional foundation date, both are stated, because the gap is usually the most interesting thing on the page.

“Rebuilt” in the condition column means substantial nineteenth- or twentieth-century reconstruction above the level of consolidation. It is not a criticism; it is a warning about what the visible masonry can be used to prove.