Kaub (old spelling: ''Caub'') is a town in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, state

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

, district

Rhein-Lahn-Kreis Rhein-Lahn-Kreis is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Westerwaldkreis, Limburg-Weilburg, Rheingau-Taunus, Mainz-Bingen, Rhein-Hunsrück, Mayen-Koblenz, and the dis ...

. It is part of the municipality (''

Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns. Rhineland- ...

'')

Loreley The Lorelei ( ; ), spelled Loreley in German, is a , steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. ...

. It is located on the right bank of the

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

, approx. 50 km west from

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

. It is connected to Wiesbaden and

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

by railway. Population 1100. It has a Roman Catholic and an

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

church, and a statue of General Blücher. Historically, trade mainly consisted of the wines of the district. Kaub is known for the castle Pfalz, or

Burg Pfalzgrafenstein Pfalzgrafenstein Castle (german: link=no, Burg Pfalzgrafenstein) is a toll castle on the Falkenau island, otherwise known as Pfalz Island in the River Rhine near Kaub, Germany. Known as "the Pfalz", this former stronghold is famous for its pi ...

, situated on a rock in the middle of the Rhine. According to legend, the Palatine countesses awaited their confinement in the Pfalz, but in reality the castle served as a toll-gate for merchandise on the

. The restored castle Gutenfels sits on a hill above the town. Kaub, first mentioned in the year 983, originally belonged to the lords of Falkenstein, in 1260 the Counts of Katzenelnbogen divided their county and selected the inhabitants of Kaub, then passed in 1277 to the Rhenish

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...

, and attained civic rights in 1324. In 1477 Kaub was passed as deposit to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen again. In 1479 this family died out. It was at Kaub that Blücher crossed the Rhine with the Prussian and Russian armies, on New Years night 1813–1814, in pursuit of the French.

Kaub gauging station

Kaub is the home of the

Kaub gauging station The Kaub gauging station (german: Pegel Kaub, Kauber Pegel) is a stream gauge located on the Rhine river in the German city of Kaub. It is a "decisive" water level measurement site for the Rhine, as Kaub is located at the shallowest part of the M ...

, a "decisive" Rhine water level metering site. Kaub is located at the shallowest part of the

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river at ...

; ships with freight from the ports on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

have to pass Kaub on their way to the southwest of Germany, where a major portion of the German industry is located. Once the level at the gauge passes the 78 cm mark (this is not the actual depth of the river), a low water level threshold is declared. At this level, due to much lower possible load, four time more barges are required to transport the same volume of goods as compared to the high (250 cm) level.

Mayors

The honorary mayor is Martin Buschfort, elected in May 2019. His predecessor was Karl-Heinz Lachmann (SPD), in office between 2009 and 2019. From 1989 to 2009 Heribert Werr (KBL) was the mayor. Lachmann was reelected in 2014.http://www.wahlen.rlp.de/kw/dw/direkt_ab_2009/Ortsbuergermeister/1410000000.htm Wilhelm Camphausen, Blüchers Rheinübergang bei Kaub

Wilhelm Camphausen, Blüchers Rheinübergang bei Kaub

Kaub was part of the temporary state

Free State of Bottleneck The Free State of Bottleneck (german: Freistaat Flaschenhals) was a short-lived quasi-state that existed from 10 January 1919 until 25 February 1923. It was formed out of part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau as a consequence of the occupa ...

(german: Freistaat Flaschenhals) from 1919 to 1923.

Gallery

Burg Pfalzgrafenstein - Kaub.jpg, Kaub, with the castles Pfalzgrafenstein and

Burg Gutenfels Gutenfels Castle (german: Burg Gutenfels), also known as Caub Castle, is a castle 110m above the town of Kaub in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. History Gutenfels Castle was built in 1220. It was used with the toll castle, Pfalzgrafenstein Castl ...

BPGr001.jpg, Castles Pfalzgrafenstein & Gutenfels BPGr003.jpg, Castle Pfalzgrafenstein Kaub+BPGr001.jpg, Kaub & Castle Pfalzgrafenstein

Notes and references

Picture of Pfalzgrafenstein, J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (painter): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833Picture of Kaub, J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (painter): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833Picture 2 of Kaub, J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (painter): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833

External links

* Rhein-Lahn-Kreis Rheingau {{RheinLahn-geo-stub