Klopp Castle
Encyclopedia
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley
Rhine Gorge
The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the River Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen in Germany...
in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany. In the nineteenth century, the bergfried
Bergfried
A bergfried is a tall tower typically found in medieval castles in German-speaking countries . Its defensive function is to some extent similar to that of a keep or donjon in English or French castles...
or keep
Keep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
from the original medieval fortified castle was restored and a new building added which houses the town's administration.
History
The castle stands on a hill above the town with a wide-ranging view, which may have been the site of a Roman fortification built by Drusus at Bingium around 10 CE. Drusenburg or Drususburg was an early name for the castle. The hill is one of three locations where local legend says that Emperor Henry IVHenry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
was imprisoned by his son in 1105 or 1106, this being the first surviving mention of a castle there.
The last medieval castle on the site was built in the 13th century: possibly around 1281, possibly between 1240, when Kloppberg (Klopp Hill) is mentioned as the residence of a churchman, and 1277, the first mention of Burg Clopp. Together with Ehrenfels Castle
Burg Ehrenfels (Hessen)
Ehrenfels Castle is a ruined castle above the Rhine Gorge near the town of Rüdesheim am Rhein in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the steep eastern bank of the river amid extended vineyards...
on the opposite side of the Rhine and later the Mouse Tower
Mouse Tower
The Mouse Tower is a stone tower on a small island in the Rhine, outside Bingen am Rhein, Germany. The Romans were the first to build a structure on this site. It later became part of Franconia, and it fell and had to be rebuilt many times....
, it enabled the Archbishopric of Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
to exact toll
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
s on river trade. In 1438 the archbishop sold the town and the castle to the cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
and the townspeople effectively controlled it. The castle was already decaying in the 16th century and was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, but was rebuilt in 1653. The French destroyed it again in 1689 in the War of the Palatine Succession, and in 1713 the Mainz forces themselves blew up what was left to prevent its use by the enemy. Early 19th-century paintings show ruined walls, one connecting the castle to the town, but the castle itself levelled.
The state of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
acquired the ruin in 1815 and sold it to Hermann Faber, a lawyer. It was later owned by a Berliner called Rosenthal, who renovated the well. Both charged tourists to climb the gate tower as a viewing platform; Faber built a stairway up the outside of the walls and a viewing room at the top which he furnished with books of poetry, a comfortable sofa and a fully equipped writing desk, and laid out the grounds as a garden with romantic paths through the grapevines, trees and flowers. He also installed an aeolian harp
Aeolian harp
An aeolian harp is a musical instrument that is "played" by the wind. It is named for Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of the wind. The traditional aeolian harp is essentially a wooden box including a sounding board, with strings stretched lengthwise across two bridges...
. The castle was one of the major sights of the Romantic Rhine. J.M.W. Turner sketched a view of it from the Nahe in 1844. By the end of the 19th century, some 75,000 entries had been made in the visitors' book.
In 1853 the gatehouse, the bridge across the moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
and the fortifications were rebuilt for Ludwig Maria Cron. The bergfried was rebuilt as a crenellated
Battlement
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet , in which portions have been cut out at intervals to allow the discharge of arrows or other missiles. These cut-out portions form crenels...
tower 26 metres high, with four corner turrets. In 1875–79, a new Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
building was built on the site. The architect for both was the mayor, Eberhard Soherr. The base of the bergfried, the moat and parts of the southern curtain wall
Curtain wall
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather. As the curtain wall is non-structural it can be made of a lightweight material reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, a great advantage is...
and its chemin de ronde
Chemin de ronde
A chemin de ronde — also called an allure or, more prosaically, a wall-walk — is a raised, protected walkway behind a castle battlement....
are the only remnants of the medieval castle.
Current use
The rebuilt bergfried formerly housed the town's local history museum, which moved in 1998 to a former power station on the waterfront. The larger Gothic building has been the seat of government and mayoral residence since 1897. There is also a gourmet restaurant.Events
- Rhein in FlammenRhein in FlammenRhein in Flammen is the name of five different firework displays along the river Rhine in Germany. The displays take place annually, at various locations along the river. On the five different dates, brightly illuminated ships sail the river in an evening convoy for their passengers to see the...
: On the first Saturday in July, ships travel from TrechtingshausenTrechtingshausenTrechtingshausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....
to Rüdesheim am Rhein to view fireworks at Burg ReichensteinBurg Reichenstein (Rhein)The Burg Reichenstein is a castle near the town of Trechtingshausen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Sources and external links:*...
, Burg RheinsteinBurg RheinsteinThe Burg Rheinstein is a castle near the town of Trechtingshausen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-History:The castle was constructed in about 1316/1317. Rheinstein Castle was important for its strategic location. By 1344, the castle was in decline. By the time of the Palatine war of succession,...
, AssmannshausenAssmannshausenAssmannshausen is, since the incorporation in 1977, a quarter of Rüdesheim am Rhein in the Rheingau, located on the Rhine in the state of Hesse, Germany. The village has a lithium spring, spa and a Kurhaus, and is famed for its red wine made from Pinot noir , which resembles red Burgundy wine...
, the Mouse Tower, Ehrenfels Castle, Klopp Castle and the Brömserburg.
Sources
- J.H.A. Hockenbeck, Geschichte des Schlosses Klopp bei Bingen: nach vorhandenen Nachrichten und angestellten Untersuchungen zugestellt. Bingen: Jung, 1882. OCLC 253436863
- Matthias Schmandt, "Die Geschichte der Burg Klopp in Bingen". Heimatjahrbuch des Landkreises Bingen 2004
- Gerd Rupprecht. Ed. Alexander Heising. Vom Faustkeil zum Frankenschwert. Bingen - Geschichte einer Stadt am Mittelrhein. Binger Stadtgeschichte 2. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 2003. ISBN 9783805332576
External links
- Burg Klopp at the European Castle Database (EBIDAT)
- Restaurant Burg Klopp