KoblenzStolzenfels
A Gothic Revival palace on a medieval footprint, and the most complete surviving statement of Prussian romantic taste on the river.
- Place
- Koblenz
- Chainage
- rkm 588
- Built
- 1259; rebuilt 1836–1842
- Condition
- Rebuilt; open to the public
- Owner
- Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz
- Protection
- Within the Upper Middle Rhine Valley World Heritage Site (inscribed 2002)
The toll castle
Arnold II von Isenburg, Prince-Bishop of Trier, built the original castle in 1259 to protect the Rhine toll station at the mouth of the Lahn. It was destroyed by French troops in 1689 during the Nine Years' War and quarried for stone through the eighteenth century.
Gift and reconstruction
In 1823 the town of Koblenz presented the ruin to Frederick William, then Crown Prince of Prussia and from 1840 king. Building ran from 1836 to 1842, with interiors finished by 1850. Karl Friedrich Schinkel supplied a design; Friedrich August Stüler carried out the construction; Peter Joseph Lenné laid out the grounds.
The inauguration on 14 September was staged with a torchlight procession and guests in medieval costume, which tells you most of what you need to know about the intentions behind the project.
Today
The building is managed by the Rhineland-Palatinate heritage directorate and reopened in 2011 after a long restoration. The interiors — particularly the small chapel and the knights' hall — are the reason to come; the exterior is best seen from the opposite bank.