Älvsborg Castle, Gothenburg, Sweden

Älvsborg, also Elfsborg Fortress, is a sea fortress situated on the mouth of the Göta Älv river. It served to protect Sweden's access to the Atlantic Ocean and the nearby settlement of today's Gothenburg and its four predecessors. The fortress was relocated in the 17th century, this New Älvsborg Fortress is still maintained. Of the Old Älvsborg Fortress, only few ruins are visible today in the vicinity of the Carnegie-pier. The new fortress was founded in 1621 by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.

In 1643, a settlement in New Sweden, North America, was named Fort Nya Elfsborg, after the Swedish fortress. This settlement was however abandoned in 1655.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Jacques Frinchaboy (2 years ago)
Nice place, read all about it but now July 20th 2018, the company that owned the water taxi service has gone bankrupt and there is no regular way to get there without hiring a boat. So what would be a 4 or 5 star place has only received one star.

Eva Fab (2 years ago)
Volvo Ocean Race - yes!

Kyle (3 years ago)
It was a small place to visit. Quick tour. I find it interesting how everyone that was there wasn't from this country and spoke English yet the tour wasn't acted out in English? We just went off on our own and enjoyed some ice cream.

Alesiya Hegay (3 years ago)
Place where you can learn more history about fortress life and become a part of the place while spending time at the calm atmosphere. Enjoyable view, nice food at the small Cafe and lots of places for picnic and even taking a cat nap

Michał Zajączkowski (3 years ago)
The small castle on the island with very nice views of river and sea. In old building is restaurant where you can find quite tasty food. Sometimes you can meet soldier from XVIII century.

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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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