Grevenburg castle was built in 1350 by Count Johann III of Sponheim-Starkenburg and replaced Castle Starkenburg as the residence of the Rear County of Sponheim. With the extinction of the ruling male line of the Rhenish branch of the House of Sponheim in 1437 the castle became seat of the bailiff of the new Counts to Sponheim.
In 1680 it was conquered by Louis XIV of France and was extended, together with the fort of Mont Royal in the horshoe bend of the Mosel north of the town of Traben-Trarbach as a part of the fortifications. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), in 1702 it was taken by the French under Taillardin and in 1704 on the express orders of the commanding officer John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough it was overpowered by Friedrich das Wehrschloss. The badly damaged castle was then occupied by the Dutch. In 1730 it was repaired by the Electorate of Trier for the defence of Koblenz and the Rhine river. In the War of the Polish Succession it was taken after three weeks' siege for the fourth and last time by the French who destroyed it in July 1734. The castle was blown up, huge chunks of it have plunged into the valley beneath.
Of the castle, although only the western wall of the former keep remains, the foundations are largely intact.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.