Visingsborg Castle Ruins

Visingsö, Sweden

The foundations of Visingsborg Castle date from 1560s. It was square formed with a moat four towers. The Brahe Family lived in Visingsborg Castle during the 16th and 17th centuries. During their time was one of the most impressive buildings in Sweden. Sculptures and paintings embellished the walls and a large number of books filled the library. The castle also had an armoury that equipped up to 800 soldiers. Outside the walls were large orchards and gardens.The Visingsborg Castle was empty for several years after the death of Count Per Brahe the Younger in 1680. Later, in the early 18th century, it was used as a camp for Russian war prisoners. It is said that it was these prisoners who finally burnt down the castle in 1718. What is left today is only the left wing.

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Visingsborg 2, Visingsö, Sweden
See all sites in Visingsö

Details

Founded: 1560s
Category: Ruins in Sweden
Historical period: Early Vasa Era (Sweden)

More Information

wikimapia.org

Rating

4.1/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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User Reviews

Denon (17 months ago)
Nice energetic place, you can rest here and fell the energy
Lewis Liu (2 years ago)
An interesting old ruin on the island, the view around us very beautiful and pleasant. I would suggest anyone who’s interested to visit it. You could also check the photos I took, I hope it will help you decide. However, the island isn’t as small as I thought, you better have some kind of transportation on the island. Could be your own car or you could also take the horse and carriage. I’m just going back now I’m gonna morning you want anything I just don’t know if it’s okay but you know what I’m talking too and it’s like you know you don’t have any money but I’m gonna you want you to be there at the house I your family I know that I do that but you gotta was a little too nervous about the kids that we had together but you didn’t tell you I wanna talk now.
Atila K (2 years ago)
Really nice views and it's open 24h.
Micheal Ulasi (2 years ago)
This is a very nice place to have family picnic or just relax with your loved ones.
Sue DelSignore (2 years ago)
beautiful ruins with overlook of the original and in use harbour of the island. History plaques are placed around the ruins. Great place to picnic around the base of the ruins with fire pits to the north of the castle. Beautiful backdrop for weddings or wedding pictures.
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Cochem Castle

The original Cochem Castle, perched prominently on a hill above the Moselle River, served to collect tolls from passing ships. Modern research dates its origins to around 1100. Before its destruction by the French in 1689, the castle had a long and fascinating history. It changed hands numerous times and, like most castles, also changed its form over the centuries.

In 1151 King Konrad III ended a dispute over who should inherit Cochem Castle by laying siege to it and taking possession of it himself. That same year it became an official Imperial Castle (Reichsburg) subject to imperial authority. In 1282 it was Habsburg King Rudolf’s turn, when he conquered the Reichsburg Cochem and took it over. But just 12 years later, in 1294, the newest owner, King Adolf of Nassau pawned the castle, the town of Cochem and the surrounding region in order to finance his coronation. Adolf’s successor, Albrecht I, was unable to redeem the pledge and was forced to grant the castle to the archbishop in nearby Trier and the Electorate of Trier, which then administered the Reichsburg continuously, except for a brief interruption when Trier’s Archbishop Balduin of Luxembourg had to pawn the castle to a countess. But he got it back a year later.

The Electorate of Trier and its nobility became wealthy and powerful in large part due to the income from Cochem Castle and the rights to shipping tolls on the Moselle. Not until 1419 did the castle and its tolls come under the administration of civil bailiffs (Amtsmänner). While under the control of the bishops and electors in Trier from the 14th to the 16th century, the castle was expanded several times.

In 1688 the French invaded the Rhine and Moselle regions of the Palatinate, which included Cochem and its castle. French troops conquered the Reichsburg and then laid waste not only to the castle but also to Cochem and most of the other surrounding towns in a scorched-earth campaign. Between that time and the Congress of Vienna, the Palatinate and Cochem went back and forth between France and Prussia. In 1815 the western Palatinate and Cochem finally became part of Prussia once and for all.

Louis Jacques Ravené (1823-1879) did not live to see the completion of his renovated castle, but it was completed by his son Louis Auguste Ravené (1866-1944). Louis Auguste was only two years old when construction work at the old ruins above Cochem began in 1868, but most of the new castle took shape from 1874 to 1877, based on designs by Berlin architects. After the death of his father in 1879, Louis Auguste supervised the final stages of construction, mostly involving work on the castle’s interior. The castle was finally completed in 1890. Louis Auguste, like his father, a lover of art, filled the castle with an extensive art collection, most of which was lost during the Second World War.

In 1942, during the Nazi years, Ravené was forced to sell the family castle to the Prussian Ministry of Justice, which turned it into a law school run by the Nazi government. Following the end of the war, the castle became the property of the new state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate). In 1978 the city of Cochem bought the castle for 664,000 marks.

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