Corte Citadel

Corte, France

A small town in the heart of Corsica, Corte was the capital of the island (from 1755-1769 under Pasquale Paoli). Jutting out above the Tavignano and Restonica Rivers, and the cobbled alleyways of the Haute Ville, the citadel’s oldest part is the château – known as the Nid d’Aigle (Eagle’s Nest) – built in 1419. The 19th-century barracks now houses the tourist office and the Museu di a Corsica, a must-see for Corsica culture buffs. It’s a joint admission for the museum and citadel.

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Address

Rue du Donjon, Corte, France
See all sites in Corte

Details

Founded: 1419
Category: Castles and fortifications in France

Rating

4.1/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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User Reviews

Brian Gavin (2 years ago)
Spacious, well laid out museum on several floors. The exhibits provide a comprehensive history of Corsica. You need to leave plenty of time for a visit if you want to read all of the detailed information for each exhibit. As with most museums there is probably more on display than can be absorbed on one visit. Don't miss the "Corsican Head" sculpture on the outside terrace on the first floor.
Mārtiņš Torsters (2 years ago)
A beautiful view available from inside, has good historical information about Île de beauté
Mark Dawson (2 years ago)
Excellent location integrated with the citadel and its fortifications. We enjoyed the underground experience and the history of Corse
Gulden Fried (2 years ago)
The concept and execution of this exhibition is wonderful. If you're not french I would highly recommend taking the audio guide for 1,50€ (I am german) because written information is only provided in french and corse and this guide opens the path to more information anyway! That's why i only give 4/5. But what we really liked was not only a wide range of provided knowledge (history, geography, geology, anthropology etc) but also access to the fort and an extended audio guide tour about architecture and the building as a whole as you walk up to the very top of the city!
James Harper (2 years ago)
Worth going in for the views from the citadel alone. The directional signage is available in English, but the exhibition signs are French and Italian only. Interesting enough though.
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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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