BURG PYRMONT ON THE MOSEL
Hohenstaufer Palatine Castle and Weddings
The Castle Pyrmont, located a short distance from the Mosel River and a neighbor to the more famous Eltz Castle, (see Burg Eltz), is a Staufer age castle first mentioned in 1225, built as a tower on a rocky cliff to protect the passage valley along the Elzbach stream from the river into the Eifel lands route to Koblenz by Heinrich Kuno von Schönburg (see Rhine Schönburg Castle Hotel), called the first Lord of Pyrmont (basically lookout mountain) and inherited by his son Henry Kuno II who built it into a stone fortress. In 1441 the inhertance of the land was divided between quarreling sons Johann Friedrich and Heinrich with the dispute being settled when the Emperor Meximillian raised the state of the baron, Heinrich Kuno to Henry VI Lord of Pyrmont.
The castle passed to the hands of a daughter Elisabeth, and by marriege to the Count Phillip von Eltz. In 1652 another dipute arose and the portion of the property passed to the family of Waldbott von Bassenheim from nearby Münstermaifeld. The Waldbotts began a reconstruction of the castle in 1712 to transform it from a medieval fortress castle to a residential palace in the Baroque style then in vogue. The castle was enlarged to three stories with large open windows and to take advantage of the beautiful forest views of the Mosel Valley. The castle today is mostly of this revival construction.
The new residence was only a brief comfort when during the French Napoleanic conquest of the Rhine Palentine in 1789 the owners of the castle fled as French Troops took up firing positions with their cannons on the banks of the Eltzbach below. Five years later the castle was declared French national property and auctioned off in 1810 to Franz George Weckbecker, who gutted it to sell off the furninshings and salvageable pieces and the castle property fell to ruin.
After a series of owners, the family of the architect Franz Krause, the draftsman for building of the Rhine Palantine monuments, acquired rights to rebuild the propety to habitable condition in 1912, but funds ran out in the face of another war. Then, 1963, the two architects from Düsseldorf, Helmut Hentrich and Hubert Petschnigg purchased the property and began a gradual recovery of the ruins of the main castle with the grounds opened for visitors in 1990 with a restaurant in the rebuilt baily.
Castle Weddings and Overnight Stays
Today the castle of Pyrmont is a popular venue for castle themed weddings. catered from the restaurant, either in the intimate Rittersaal (Knights hall), Great Hall or in the landscaped gardens. Lodging in the castle rooms, in the upper castle, the gatehouse, the Coach House, and the Garden House are usually part of a wedding package. When not reserved for weddings the rooms are available for visitor lodging but require a two night minimum, check the castle booking form.
There is also lodging nearby at the Pyrmonter Mühle Gastehaus (Pyrmont Mill) a half-timber inn with 8 rooms and restaurant on the banks of the Eltzbach below the castle cliff. It is not part of the castle.
Hiking and Biking
The Elzbach Valley offers some of the prettiest hiking trails in the region and biking along the winding roads through the small back woods littel towns of the Eifel.
Visiting Burg Prymont
The castle is open from the beginning of May until the first weekend of October. Castle tours are only on Sundays and Holidays from 11 am to 4 pm. Admission price is €5 for adults, €3.50 for children 4-16 and a Family ticket for €15. Visits for groups of 20 can be arranged on other days. A movie presentation about the castle is shown at the beginning of the tour. The castle is reached by car, or a the Mosel and Eifel region “Burgenbus” the bus line 330 which runs on weekends and holidays from May to October between Treis-Karden and Hatzenport and includes the the two castles of Burg Pyrmont and Burg Eltz, and the Eifel town of Münstermaifeld. © Bargain Travel Europe
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Burg Pyrmont
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See Also:
COCHEM’S REICHSBURG ON THE MOSELRHINE CASTLE HOTEL RHEINFELS - ST GOAR
