Brömserburg Castle, Rüdesheim am Rhein, Germany

Once situated directly on the banks of the Rhine, Brömserburg Castle was owned by the Archbishops of Mainz from the beginning of the 10th to the beginning of the 19th century. During the 12th century they converted the old fortress into a castle residence. With its vaulted ceilings and walls of more than two metres thick, it successfully provided resistance against any attack. One exception was the destruction of the castle’s southeastern part, which was destroyed in 1640 by the Duke of Longueville. The castle was inhabited up until 1937, before be- ing acquired by Rüdesheim’s town council in 1941. Today, the castle houses the extensive collections of Rheingau’s wine museum.

References:

ruedesheim.de

User Reviews

Joshua Locke (2 years ago)
My wife and I went hoping to see the museum and the interior of the castle; We were only able to walk around the outside as the museum was closed mid-day on a Friday. Maybe the proprietor had gone to lunch or something. Regardless, the grounds were pleasant, it was quiet and there were some old wine making apparatuses and the castle exterior to take pictures of. Spent about 10 minutes there; Wasn't really worth the walk, wish it had been open.

Chewabakka Wookee (2 years ago)
Big choice of wine, good system of tasting, very nice cafe

steve rudis (3 years ago)
Small museum that highlights wine making in the area. More about storage than winemaking. It is fun to wander and look at glasses bottles and other items. Great views as well. This is a wine city

Jessica T (3 years ago)
The wine museum is housed in an old castle. The self guided tour with audio set is good and available in many languages. The building is very cool. Most of the museum is easy to walk through with stairs, but near the end you can go up to the roof of the castle if you take a long, narrow staircase with low clearance. If you can make it, the view is worth it.

Jens Thomas (3 years ago)
We didn't go in but visited the free outside exhibits. A nice selection of various vintages of wine presses. The setting in the vineyards and the old castle was fantastic.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Frans.Sellies

Historic Site of the week

Kromeriz Castle and Gardens

Kroměříž stands on the site of an earlier ford across the River Morava. The gardens and castle of Kroměříž are an exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a European Baroque princely residence and its gardens and described as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first residence on the site was founded by bishop Stanislas Thurzo in 1497. The building was in a Late Gothic style, with a modicum of Renaissance detail. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was sacked by the Swedish army (1643).

It was not until 1664 that a bishop from the powerful Liechtenstein family charged architect Filiberto Lucchese with renovating the palace in a Baroque style. The chief monument of Lucchese's work in Kroměříž is the Pleasure Garden in front of the castle. Upon Lucchese's death in 1666, Giovanni Pietro Tencalla completed his work on the formal garden and had the palace rebuilt in a style reminiscent of the Turinese school to which he belonged.

After the castle was gutted by a major fire in March 1752, Bishop Hamilton commissioned two leading imperial artists, Franz Anton Maulbertsch and Josef Stern, arrived at the residence in order to decorate the halls of the palace with their works. In addition to their paintings, the palace still houses an art collection, generally considered the second finest in the country, which includes Titian's last mythological painting, The Flaying of Marsyas. The largest part of the collection was acquired by Bishop Karel in Cologne in 1673. The palace also contains an outstanding musical archive and a library of 33,000 volumes.

UNESCO lists the palace and garden among the World Heritage Sites. As the nomination dossier explains, 'the castle is a good but not outstanding example of a type of aristocratic or princely residence that has survived widely in Europe. The Pleasure Garden, by contrast, is a very rare and largely intact example of a Baroque garden'. Apart from the formal parterres there is also a less formal nineteenth-century English garden, which sustained damage during floods in 1997.

Interiors of the palace were extensively used by Miloš Forman as a stand-in for Vienna's Hofburg Imperial Palace during filming of Amadeus (1984), based on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who actually never visited Kroměříž. The main audience chamber was also used in the film Immortal Beloved (1994), in the piano concerto scene.

Do you know an ancient castle or magnificent church near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory.com.

It's absolutely free, easy, and doesn't even need registration!

Upload data

Looks like you are a history fan!

Do you know an ancient castle or hidden ruins near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory. It's absolutely free, easy, and you can do it even without registration (of course you an also create an free account)!

Brömserburg Castle

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

The Beauty of Cinque Terre

Must-See Historic Places in Córdoba

Best of Middle Rhine Valley, Germany

Historic Site of the week

Kromeriz Castle and Gardens

Looks like you are a history fan!

Do you know an ancient castle or hidden ruins near you?