The Nürburg is a ruined

hilltop castle A hilltop castle is a type of hill castle that was built on the summit of a hill or mountain. In the latter case it may be termed a mountaintop castle. The term is derived from the German, ''Gipfelburg'', which is one of a number of terms used ...

in the German

Eifel Mountains 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 ...

near the village of

Nürburg Nürburg () is a town in the Germany, German district of Ahrweiler (district), Ahrweiler, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is also the name of the local castle, Nürburg Castle, which was built in the High Middle Ages. The name is derived ...

south of

Adenau Adenau () is a town in the High Eifel in Germany. It is known as the ''Johanniterstadt'' because the Order of Saint John was based there in the Middle Ages. The town's coat of arms combines the black cross of the Electorate of Cologne with the l ...

in the district of

Ahrweiler Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler () is a spa town in the German Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate that serves as the capital of the Ahrweiler district. The A61 motorway connects the town with cities like Cologne and Mainz. Formed by the merging of the ...

in the state of

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 ...

. It stands within the famous North Loop, or Nordschleife, of the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

racing course at an altitude of on a

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

cone. It may be visited for a fee.

History

The site was first mentioned in the records in 1166 as ''Noureberg'' or ''Mons Nore'', but it is probable that it was already used as a signal station in Roman times to protect the important Roman road that ran through the Eifel. The actual instigator of the Nürburg was Count

Ulrich Ulrich (), is a German given name, derived from Old High German ''Uodalrich'', ''Odalric''. It is composed of the elements '' uodal-'' meaning "(noble) heritage" and ''-rich'' meaning "rich, powerful". Attested from the 8th century as the name of Al ...

, who, is named in a document from 1169, although his father,

Dietrich I of Are Theoderich of Are (German: ''Dietrich von Are'', Dutch: ''Dirk van Are''; 1087–1126) was the first count of Are (the area around Ahrweiler in present-day Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany). Theoderich was a nephew of bishop Odo of Toul,'' Odon de T ...

had already started the construction of a

refuge castle A refuge castleCreighton, Oliver (2015). ''Early European Castles''. Bloomsbury. or refuge fort (german: Fliehburg, also ''Fluchtburg'', ''Volksburg'', ''Bauernburg'' or ''Vryburg'') is a castle-like defensive location, usually surrounded by rampa ...

on the mountain. Ulrich's descendants called themselves the lords of Nürburg and Are and were

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...

s (''Lehnsmänner'') of the

bishops of Cologne The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palati ...

and the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...

emperor. In 1290, ownership of the castle was transferred to the

Electorate of Cologne The Electorate of Cologne (german: Kurfürstentum Köln), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (german: Kurköln, links=no), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. ...

, because there were no more descendants of the lords of Nürburg. The

archbishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

appointed a

bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...

(''

Amtmann __NOTOC__ The ''Amtmann'' or ''Ammann'' (in Switzerland) was an official in German-speaking countries of Europe and in some of the Nordic countries from the time of the Middle Ages whose office was akin to that of a bailiff. He was the most seni ...

''), who from then on was to represent their interests. The construction of the castle was carried out in three stages. After the construction of the rectangular inner ward or ''kernburg'', the ''

zwinger "" () is a German word for outer ward or bailey (castle), outer bailey. It represents an open kill zone area between two defensive walls that is used for defensive purposes. s were built in the Post-classical history, post-classical and early ...

'' walls were built between 1340 and 1369 under the bailiff, Johann von Schleiden, as a second defensive ring. In the 15th century a third wall was erected to protect the hitherto freely-accessible castellan's buildings that have not survived. As early as the 16th century the castle fell into a very poor condition, a situation which the officiating bailiffs complained about. As a result, restoration work was carried out several times. In 1633, during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, the Nürburg was captured by the Swedes under General

Baudissin Baudissin is the name of a German noble family of Sorbian origin, first mentioned in 1326 in Upper Lusatia, now part of Saxony. At the time Bautzen, the district capital, was called ''Budissin'', whence the name originated. All name bearers, incl ...

, who plundered and damaged it. In 1674, Imperial troops occupied the castle. Nürburg

In 1689, French soldiers finally destroyed the place. The surviving keep, or ''

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 German ...

'', was initially used as a prison, but was no longer fit for that purpose after 1752. The castle was abandoned and used as a stone quarry. In 1818

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

had the ''bergfried'' restored because, with its height of , it would be able to act as a

trigonometric point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

. In the course of this work the

outer ward An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary bui ...

was demolished. Today only the remnants of the

enceinte Enceinte (from Latin incinctus: girdled, surrounded) is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the position. For ...

testify to its existence. In 1949, ownership of the ruins was transferred to Rhineland-Palatinate's State Department for Conservation, who entrusted it to the Management of State Castles of Rhineland-Palatinate (''Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser Rheinland-Pfalz'', today the ''Burgen, Schlösser Altertümer Rheinland-Pfalz''). The latter had work carried out several times (last in 1988/89) in order to expose elements of the building that had been filled in, as well as to carry out safety and restoration work.

Sources

* Werner Bornheim gen. Schilling: ''Ruine Nürburg''. Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Burgen, Schlösser, Altertümer Rheinland-Pfalz, Koblenz 2003 (= Führer der Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser Rheinland-Pfalz, Heft 14).

External links

Die Nürburg bei der Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nurburg Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Castles in the Eifel