Advent Calendar No. 772

Castle Rheinstein

Castle Rheinstein stands on a spur of rock at the beginning of the Middle Rhine Valley, on the left side of the river, between Bingerbrück and Trechtingshausen.The history of the castle originates in the 13th century. It was built as a customs post by the Archbishopric of Mainz and was served to protect the Mainz territory against the unruly knights of the Rhine River.The castle was never destroyed by attack, but from the 17th century on it gradually decayed. In 1823 it was bought by Prince Friedrich of Prussia, a cousin of the later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, and he rebuilt the castle, generally in the sense of the Rhine Romantic of the 19th century. In 1975 Barbara, Duchess of Mecklenburg, the last owner of the House of Prussia, sold the castle to the former opera singer Hermann Hecher, who preserved it from misuse and imminent decay. And so it is due to the Hecher family - with the support of the society "Freunde der Burg Rheinstein e.V." (Friends of Castle Rheinstein) and the Rhineland-Palatinate office for the preservation of monuments - that the castle after about 30 years of hard work has become again a lively cultural monument at the Middle Rhine. Web-Site of the Castle : www.burg-rheinstein.de