Braubach () is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

, approx. 10 km southeast of

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

. Braubach has assorted medieval architecture intact, including portions of the town wall,

half-timbered Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

buildings, and castle Marksburg on the hill above. Braubach was the seat of the former ''

Verbandsgemeinde A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A is typically composed of a small group of Municipalitie ...

'' ("collective municipality") Braubach.

History

In 1276 King Rudolf of Habsburg made Braubach a free city under Count Gottfried of Eppstein. Count Eberhard I of Katzenelnbogen bought the city and castle in 1283. Until 1479, the Counts rebuilt the castle constantly. The castle was never conquered and never destroyed. The City of Braubach was the administrative centre of the Katzenelnbogen wine production with Rhens, Spay, Boppard, Horchheim and Salzig and an amount of 33000 L of wine in 1438 and 84000 L of wine in 1443. Braubuch owes also its economic development to mining of lead and silver that started in 1769. On the nearby Pankert mountain, one can still see three chimneys used for smeltering. In the 1845 travel guide '' Le Rhin,''

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

notes: "Then comes Braubach, named in a charter of 933, fief of the Counts Arnstein of Lahngau; an Imperial city under Rodolph in 1270, a domain of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen in 1283; accruing to Hesse in 1473; to Darmstadt, in 1632, and in 1802 to Nassau. Braubach, communicating with the baths of the Taunus, is charmingly situated at the foot of a high rock, crested by Marksburg, the castle of which is now a state prison.

Partner cities

* Villeneuve-sur-Yonne

Notes and references

External links

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{{Authority control Medieval German architecture Populated places on the Rhine Towns in Rhineland-Palatinate Rhein-Lahn-Kreis Middle Rhine