RHEINGAU
WINE MUSEUM - RÜDESHEIM AM RHEIN
Wine & Knights History at Brömserburg Castle
The
Bromserburg Castle sits at the edge of the Rhine River just at the
northern end of
the popular tourism town of Rudesheim. Originally
called the Niederburg (now a little village just down river), the
square keep castle was built on the site of an earlier Roman tower
which stood
at the end of a bridge across the river from the Roman settlement
of Bingium, now Bingen, on the opposite side of the Rhine. Some earlier
walls remain, but the main form of the square castle keep dates from
the 11th Century, one of the oldest castles along the middle Rhine,
with additional construction in the 12th Century. The castle was
a
fortification of the ruling Prince Archbishops of Mainz (see Mainz
Cathedral), serving as a customs toll watch tower.
After the more defensible castle of Ehrenfels was constructed a mile
down river at the beginning of the 13th Century and the “Mouse
Tower” was built as customs house (see Castle Ehrenfels
and the Mausturm), the Niederburg lost its value as a toll
castle and came
into the
hands of the Knights of Rüdesheim and the Brömsers, a powerful
medieval family dynasty of the area, who lived for several generations
within the walls of the castle, hence the name, Brömserburg.
During the Thirty Years War which raged in the Rhineland in the 17th
Century
the high tower of the castle was destroyed in 1640 in a siege by
the troops of the Duke of Longueville. A model of the castle as it
was
can be seen inside. With the susceptibility of middle-ages castles
to artillery, the Brömser family of Rüdesheim built themselves
a much more comfortable manor house nearby, the Brömserhof,
which now houses the marvelous Mechanical Music Museum (see Mechanisches
Musikabinett Rudesheim).
The Brömserburg castle came into the possession of the Counts
of Metternich, another prominent family in the Rhineland (see Kloster
Machern Bernkastel), but with use for it, the castle fell into ruin,
until it was purchased in 1811 by the Count Friedrich Karl von Ingelheim.
Like many of the other old castles along Rhine (see Castle
Rheinstein and Castle
Reichenstein) the count turned the ruin into a “romantic
castle” residence. Court architect Georg Moller added faux Renaissance
windows and moved walls to make the old medieval structure more habitable,
adding balconies of sandstone and gardens. Rudesheim became a very
popular stop on the tours of the romanticized Middle-Rhine in the 1800s.
A guest book of the castle bears witness to the many illustrious guests
and famous personalities, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (see Goethe
House Frankfurt), Heinrich Heine, Carl Maria von Weber, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdi,
Paganini, and even Wilhelm & Jakob Grimm (see Brothers
Grimm Hanau).
Rheingau Wine Museum
The
Brömser castle is now owned by the city of Rüdesheim
am Rhein and home to the Rheingau Wine Museum (Rheingauer Weinmuseum),
one of the oldest in the region, with the medieval stone halls and
nooks filled with a collection of exhibits dedicated to the production
of the vintages which characterize the lands along the banks of the
mighty river. The Rheingau is essentially the portion of the Rhine
along the right (eastern) bank of the river between Wiesbaden
and the legendary Loreley rock, with Rüdesheim in its center.
In the castle gardens stand a collection the heavy wood and iron grape
presses, wine barrels and carts, including a press from as early as
1594, while the floors and vaults inside the castle hold almost 2,000
wine-related exhibits from antiquity to the present. The hard work
of the traditional winegrower, winemaker, and barrel coopers is represented
by the collection of tools used in the past compared to the mechanical
techniques of today.
Not
only the making of wine, but the enjoyment is also on display with
an extensive collection of drinking vessels, stoneware from the
Rheingau, Siegburg, and the Westerwald, religious wine chalaces, wine
bottles and labels, decorative corks and corkscrews, sculptures,
paintings,
graphics.
Among the highlights
of the collection are precious antique wine glasses in style from around
Europe, even from the medieval and Roman periods. Climb the narrow
winding stone stairs of the old keep to the top platform for a magnificent
view over the vineyards and the river. And what would be a visit to
a wine museum without some wine? So, wine tasting can also be part
of the experience with a group.
Visiting the Rheingau Wine Museum Bromserburg
The Brömserburg castle is an easy walk from the center of old
Rudesheim, the train station and cruise docks. The wine museum is open
10am to 6pm daily from mid-March to late October. Admission is €5
for adults. €3 for students and children, with a family ticket
for €10. For groups with advance notice, wine tasting sessions
are held in the garden, including an audio-visual presentation of the
Rheingau region. With a car there is a parking lot next door, but in
the busy tourist summers, can be a bit more challenging. In October,
a Middle-Ages Market and Fair is held on the grounds of the castle. © Bargain
Travel Europe
Reviews and travel deals on the Rhine River on TripAdvisor
Web Info
Rheingau
Wine Museum
These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
See Also:
KD FLEET - RHINE AND MOSEL RIVER CRUISES
RHINE & MOSEL AUGUST-SEPTEMBER WINE FESTIVALS
HOTEL KRONE ASSMANNSHAUSEN - RHINE
WINE TASTING LANIUS-KNAB OBERWESEL
