The Wörth Castle (,

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , ,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no #Conventions, defined orthography for any of them, many different spellings can be found. and others; ) is any of the Alemannic German, Alemannic ...

: ) is a fortification in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Neuhausen am Rheinfall Neuhausen am Rheinfall (sometimes abbreviated as Neuhausen a. Rhf., called Neuhausen until 1938) is a town and a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. The town is close to the Rhine Falls (), mainland Europe's largest waterf ...

in the canton of

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

, Switzerland, located on a small island in the

Rhine Falls The Rhine Falls ( / Swiss German: , a singular noun) is a waterfall on the High Rhine in Switzerland. It is the most powerful waterfall in Europe and a popular tourist attraction. The falls are located on the border between the cantons of S ...

' basin.

Geography and name

The

water castle A water castle, sometimes water-castle, is a castle which incorporates a natural or artificial body of water into its defences.Forde-Johnston (1979), p. 163. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats (moated castle) or natural waterbo ...

is located in the

plunge pool A plunge pool (or plunge basin or waterfall lake) is a deep depression in a stream bed at the base of a waterfall or Shut-in (river), shut-in. It is created by the erosion, erosional forces of cascading water on the rocks at the formation's bas ...

of the

(), built on a small island in the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

river in the municipality of

in the

canton of Schaffhausen The canton of Schaffhausen, also canton of Schaffhouse (; ; ; ), is the northernmost Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. The principal city and capital of the canton is Schaffhausen. The canton's territory is divided into three non-co ...

, opposite of the Laufen Castle in the

canton of Zurich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

. The (twee for German , meaning 'castle') owes its name to the location on a small island, washed by the water of the Rhine Falls, which used to be known as , meaning literally a river island.

History

Wörth was first mentioned in the 13th century AD, serving up to the middle of the 19th century as a major transhipment point on the east-west trade route, that led from

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

() and the city of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, and was interrupted by the waterfall. The present castle was built in 1348 AD, according to the excavations by the archaeological team of the canton of Schaffhausen in 2004. Like the predecessor building, which was built in the mid-11th century as , it served as a customs house and to secure the area, where the goods were transferred to evade the waterfall. Earliest owner of the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

were the (), followed by the Schultheiss of Randenburg (1291) and the (1422), and in 1429 by the

Kloster Allerheiligen Schaffhausen Kloster Allerheiligen (All Saints abbey) is a former Benedictine Order, Benedictine monastery in the Switzerland, Swiss municipality of Schaffhausen in the Canton of Schaffhausen. The church Münster Schaffhausen, ''Münster Allerheiligen'' is the ...

. After the monastery's abolition in 1524, Wörth was a department () of the city of

. In the late 1790s, a so-called Gertzler was the custodian of the then . It was given as a so-called (

) by the Kloster Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen along with the

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

fisheries, customs, vineyard, forest etc. The Gertzler moved the customs for the monastery and had to deliver 2/3 of the salmon catch. For subsistence, he was allowed to fell timber out of the forest, and had to pay a lease of 30

Thaler A thaler or taler ( ; , previously spelled ) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter o ...

per year for the use of the vineyard and the fields. The term derives from the

word for "slide out", as the

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

hereditary could be revoked if the administrator did not meet its obligations to the monastery. When the

railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to roa ...

was built, the water traffic route lost its importance, and the canton of Schaffhausen rebuilt the building as a restaurant in 1835/36. The former customs station and salmon farming was converted to the ''tourism promotional restaurant'' «Caffé- und Speisewirtschaft Schlösschen Wörth», that was opened on 2 February 1837 (''

Candlemas Candlemas, also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Feast of the Holy Encounter, is a Christian holiday, Christian feast day commemorating the presentation of ...

''). The construction costs for the renovation had to be paid by the former owner, the Kloster Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen. Rheinfall - Schloss Wörth 2010-06-03 17-04-24.JPG, Wörth as seen from nearby the Laufen Castle Neuhausen am Rheinfall - Rheinfall - Schloss Wörth 2010-06-24 19-05-14 ShiftN.jpg Rheinfall - Schloss Wörth IMG 3770.jpg Laufen-Uhwiesen - Schloss Laufen - Rheinfall 2010-06-24 19-47-18 ShiftN.jpg, historic view

Architecture

A bridge was leading from the righthand shore of the

river into the ring the walled courtyard. On the north side a palace-like building was built, whose third floor consisted of a

cantilevered A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

timber. In 1621, a stone floor replaced the clerestory. New floors were added, new windows broken, and the ring wall and gate was broken. As of today it houses the restaurant that claims to be a gourmet restaurant, and also a gift shop and a fast food joint, connected with a terrace and a brilliant view of the Rhine Falls. Wörth is also the starting point of the tour boats.

Trivia

The castle was mentioned in the diary of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

on 18 September 1797, ''Schlösschen Wörth: Ich ging hinein, um ein Glas Wein zu trinken. Alter Eindruck bey Erblickung des Mannes ...'' Goethe asked the custodian (Gertzler) about his work and documented the then conditions.

Cultural heritage

The building is listed in the

Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance #REDIRECT Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance {{R from other capitalisation ...

as a ''Class B'' object of regional importance.

References

External links

Website of the restaurant ''Schlössli Wörth''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Worth Castle Castles in the canton of Schaffhausen Tourist attractions in the canton of Schaffhausen Neuhausen am Rheinfall Restaurants in Switzerland River islands of Switzerland Islands of the Rhine Water castles in Switzerland Cultural property of regional significance in Switzerland