Metternich Castle is an ancient castle in the

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 ...

state of the

Federal Republic of 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 between ...

. It is also known as the Beilstein Castle (''Burg Beilstein''), being within the municipal bounds of in

Beilstein, Rhineland-Palatinate Beilstein () is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Cochem, ...

Location

The castle, now in ruins, is located in the municipality of Beilstein on the river

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...

History

The history of the castle goes back to 1268 when the castle (referred to as Bilstein Castle) was first mentioned. It is thought the castle is even older, with some historians indicating 1129 as the year of construction. Until the first half of 17th century, the castle was owned by Counts von Nassau-Dillenburg. In 1637, the castle became the property of the

House of Metternich The House of Metternich is an old German noble family originating in the Rhineland. The most prominent member was Prince Klemens von Metternich, who was the dominant figure at the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815). As a former reigning house ( me ...

, hence its current name, Metternich Castle. The last member of the family to own the castle was

Klemens von Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ; german: Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein (15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternic ...

, one of the most famous diplomats of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

he was foreign minister from 1809 to 1848. In 1689, during the

Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between Kingdom of France, France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by t ...

, the castle was destroyed by French troops.

External links

Metternich Castle

Metternich Burg
{{Authority control Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Buildings and structures in Cochem-Zell Castles on the Moselle