Genovevaburg is a castle standing on the southwestern side of

Mayen Mayen is a town in the Mayen-Koblenz District of the Rhineland-Palatinate Federal State of Germany, in the eastern part of the Volcanic Eifel Region. As well as the main town, additional settlements include Alzheim, Kürrenberg, Hausen-Betzing, ...

in the German 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 ...

. The castle is the symbol of Mayen and has been rebuilt several times since first being destroyed in 1689. Its name comes from a legend, according to which the seats of

counts palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...

, Siegfried and his wife,

Genevieve of Brabant Genevieve (also Genoveva or Genoveffa ) of Brabant is a heroine of medieval legend. The story is told in the "Golden Legend" and concerns a virtuous wife falsely accused of infidelity. Legend Her story is a typical example of the widespread ta ...

(German: ''Genoveva''), were supposed to be on the same hill in (or above) Mayen. The earliest references linking the legend to this region date to the 17th century. Since when the castle and its

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 ...

, the so-called Golo Tower (''Goloturm''), have been linked to the legend is unknown.

Literature

* Fridolin Hörter: ''Die kurfürstliche Burg und das Landschaftsmuseum in Mayen'' (= ''Rheinische Kunststätten''. Heft 236). 1st edn., Gesellschaft für Buchdruck, Neuss, 1980, . * Matthias Kordel: ''Die schönsten Schlösser und Burgen in der Eifel.'' 1st edn.,Wartberg, Gudensberg-Gleichen, 1999, , pp. 44–45. * Udo Liessem: ''Die Burg in Mayen. Eine gotische Anlage westlicher Prägung.'' In: ''Burgen und Schlösser''. No. 1, 1982, , pp. 2–6. * Michael Losse: ''Hohe Eifel und Ahrtal. 57 Burgen und Schlösser''. Konrad Theiss, Stuttgart, 2003, , pp. 62–65.

External links

*
Website of the Eifel Museum

{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century Heritage sites in Rhineland-Palatinate Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Castles in the Eifel Buildings and structures in Mayen-Koblenz