The Boosenburg is a

lowland castle The term lowland castle or plains castle (german: Niederungsburg, Flachlandburg, Tieflandburg) describes a type of castle that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. The cl ...

Rüdesheim am Rhein Rüdesheim am Rhein is a German winemaking town in the Rhine Gorge, and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in this region. It lies in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt, Hessen. Known as Rüdesheim, i ...

Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Rheingau-Taunus is a Kreis (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis is part of the Darmstadt region; its main administrative seat is Bad Schwalbach. Outposted sections of the local administration are located in Idstein and R ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

, Germany, located in the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

valley and dating back to the 12th century. It is locally known as ''Oberburg'' (upper castle) in relation to the near and slightly lower Brömserburg. It has been part of the

Rhine Gorge The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rüdesheim in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage S ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

from 2002.

History

The castle was probably built at the end of the 12th century as the family seat for the

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

, Lord Fuchs of Rüdesheim, as a square building surrounding a very high, double stepped

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under Germ ...

, protected by a

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * "O'er the Ramparts We Watched" is a key line from "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the ...

and moat. In late

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

times, additional living quarters were added. In 1407, the castle was left to the Brömser von Rüdesheim noble family. From 1474 to 1830, it belonged to the noble family. After the counts of Schönborn-Wiesntheid became owners in 1830, they tore down in 1836 all the buildings apart from the bergfried, which they built even higher, adding Gothic Revival

merlon A merlon is the solid upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 202. Merlons are sometimes ...

s. The next owner, wine merchant Baptist Sturm, transformed the moat to a vaulted wine cellar. His widow erected a Gothic Revival villa, designed by Philipp Hoffmann, and completed in 1872. The castle has belonged to a winery, Weinkellerei Carl Jung, from 1938. The musical family has arranged chamber music concerts in their residence. Carl's son,

Hans Otto Jung Hans Otto Jung (17 September 1920 – 22 April 2009) was a German viticulturist, jazz musician and patron of music. In the 1940s, he played as a pianist in the Hotclub Combo, which he cofounded with Emil Mangelsdorff and others. In 1987, he was a ...

, a founding member of the jazz group in the 1940s, played there with notable musicians on two

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

pianos. His son, Edu Jung, also active as a jazz musician, opened the venue also for concerts of the Volkshochschule (VHS,

folk high school Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule;' ...

). In 2002, Boosenburg became part of the

of the

Literature

* Michael Fuhr: ''Wer will des Stromes Hüter sein? 40 Burgen und Schlösser am Mittelrhein''. 1st edition. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2002, , pp 130–131. * ''Schlösser, Burgen, alte Mauern.'' Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, , p 304.

History

Literature

References

External links