Blankenheim Castle (german: Burg Blankenheim) is a '' schloss'' above the village of Blankenheim in the

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

mountains of Germany. It was built as a hill castle around 1115 by Gerhard I and became the family seat of the House of Blankenheim. The lords of Blankenheim were elevated to the countship in 1380. The counts were related to the counts of Manderscheid and, from 1469, were named Manderscheid-Blankenheim. With the extinction of the lines of Manderscheid-Gerolstein and Manderscheid-Kail (1742) the County of Manderscheid became the largest independent territorial lordship in the Eifel.

Site

The site has been remodelled on numerous occasions. In the course of time the

mediaeval 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 a ...

defensive site was converted into a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

''schloss'' with a

Baroque garden The Baroque garden was a style of garden based upon symmetry and the principle of imposing order on nature. The style originated in the late-16th century in Italy, in the gardens of the Vatican and the Villa Borghese gardens in Rome and in the ga ...

and an orangery. Its end came in September 1794, when French troops marched into Blankenheim. Countess Augusta of Manderscheid-Blankenheim and her family fled to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. For a long time the castle remained uninhabited until, in 1894, Prussia started work on safety measures. In 1926 it was taken over by the German Gymnastics Club and, in 1936, the site was acquired by the German Youth Hostel Association. They converted the castle into a youth hostel. In 1996 the wildlife park tunnel was rediscovered. It is a noteworthy water supply gallery. Although the River Ahr flows nearby, the castle depended on rainwater. As a result, Count Dietrich III of Manderscheid-Blankenheim had a water supply tunnel excavated in 1469. The water from the spring ''In der Rhenn'' was thereby diverted from about a kilometre away and led to the castle.

Personalities

The lawyer and Catholic politician, Moritz Lieber, was born on 1 October 1790 at Blankenheim Castle.

External links

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Blankenheim.
''Porträt. DJH-Service-Center Rheinland (Jugendherberge) *

''www.eifel.de *

''Die Burg. *
Tiergartentunnel in Blankenheim.
''Stilles Wasser in der Tiefe. Nordrhein-Westfalen-Stiftung Naturschutz, Heimat- und Kulturpflege {{DEFAULTSORT:Blankenheim Castles in North Rhine-Westphalia Buildings and structures in Euskirchen (district)