
Bacharach (, also known as ''Bacharach am Rhein'') is a town in the
Mainz-Bingen
Mainz-Bingen is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Rheingau-Taunus, the district-free cities Wiesbaden and Mainz, the districts Groß-Gerau, Alzey-Worms, Bad Kreuzn ...
district 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
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It belongs to the
''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rhein-Nahe, whose seat is in
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 languages, Celtic word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the shoal behind the ...
, although that town is not within its bounds.
The original name ''Baccaracus'' suggests a
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
origin. Above the town stands
Stahleck Castle (''Burg Stahleck''), now a
youth hostel
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...
.
Geography
Location
The town lies in the
Rhine Gorge
The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rüdesheim in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in Ju ...
, 48 km south 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 ...
.
Constituent communities
Bacharach is divided into several ''
Ortsteil
A village is a human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located ...
e''. The outlying centre of Steeg lies in the Steeg Valley (''Steeger Tal'') off to the side, away from 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 ...
. This glen lies between Medenscheid and Neurath to the south and Henschhausen to the north on the heights.
History
In the early 11th century, Bacharach had its first documentary mention. It may have been that as early as the 7th century, the kingly domain passed into Archbishop of Cologne Kunibert’s ownership; pointing to this is a ''Kunibertskapelle'' (
chapel
A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...
) on the spot where now stands the ''Wernerkapelle''. The ''
Vögte'' of the Cologne estate were the
Elector of the Palatinate
This article lists counts palatine of Lotharingia, counts palatine of the Rhine, and electors of the Palatinate (), the titles of three counts palatine who ruled some part of the Rhine region in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire b ...
, who over time pushed back Cologne’s influence. Count Palatine already had so much influence that he resided at Stahleck Castle. His successor Konrad von Staufen’s daughter secretly wed at Stahleck Castle a son of the Welfs, who were family foes, leading to Bacharach’s, and indeed the whole County Palatine’s, falling for a short time to
Henry of Brunswick. In 1214 the
Wittelsbachs became Bacharach’s new lords. Together with the ''
Unteramt'' of Kaub they received here their most important toll and revenue source. In 1314 it was decided to choose
Louis the Bavarian
Louis IV (; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian (, ), was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328 until his death in 1347.
Louis' election as king of Germany in 1314 was cont ...
as the German king. Furthermore, Bacharach was the most important transfer point for the wine trade, as barrels were offloaded here from the smaller ships that were needed to get by the ''Binger Loch'' (a
quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tecton ...
reef in the Rhine upstream near Bingen) and loaded onto bigger ones. From then on, the wine bore the designation ''Bacharacher''. The timber trade from the
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...
also brought Bacharach importance, and in 1356, Bacharach was granted town rights.

Widely visible is the ''Wernerkapelle'', a ''Rheinromantik'' landmark of the town, lying on the way up to Stahleck Castle from the town. It is the expanded ''Kunibertkapelle'', and is still an unfinished
Gothic ruin today. Its namesake is
Werner of Oberwesel, known in connection with pogroms triggered by his death. According to the Christian
blood libel
Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...
, which was typical of the times, a 16-year-old Werner was murdered on
Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday, also referred to as Holy Thursday, or Thursday of the Lord's Supper, among other names,The day is also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries. is ...
1287 by members of the local
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
community, who then used his blood for
Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt.
According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...
observances. On the grounds of this alleged ritual murder, there arose an anti-Semitic mob who waged a
pogrom
A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...
, wiping out Jewish communities in the Middle and Lower Rhine and
Moselle
The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...
regions. In folk Christianity arose the cult of Werner, which was only stricken from the
Bishopric of Trier calendar in 1963.
In 1344, building work began on the town wall, and was already finished about 1400. In 1545, the town, along with the Palatinate, became
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
under Count Palatine
Friedrich II. Stahleck Castle and the town wall could not stop Bacharach from undergoing eight changes in military occupation in the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
, nor the war’s attendant
sackings. Moreover, further destruction was wrought by several town fires. Then, in 1689,
French troops fighting in the
Nine Years' War
The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between Kingdom of France, France and the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial poss ...
blew Stahleck Castle and four of the town wall’s towers up.

In 1794,
French Revolutionary troops occupied the Rhine’s left bank and in 1802, Bacharach became temporarily French. During the
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition () (December 1812 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation (), a coalition of Austrian Empire, Austria, Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia, Russian Empire, Russia, History of Spain (1808– ...
the
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
n
Field Marshal Blücher, after crossing the Rhine near Kaub, came through Bacharach and the Steeg Valley on New Year’s Night 1813-1814 with his troops on the way to France. Recalling this event is a monument stone somewhat downstream, across from Kaub. After the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
, the town went, along with the Rhine’s left bank, up to and including
Bingerbrück
Bingerbrück () is a ''Ortsteil, Stadtteil'' of Bingen am Rhein, on the opposite side of the river Nahe (Rhine), Nahe from the old town of Bingen. It was self-administering until 1969.
Points of interest
Binger Mäuseturm
"The Mouse Tower of Bi ...
, to
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
. After the harbour silted up, Bacharach fell into a slumber from which it only awoke in the course of the ''Rheinromantik''. Among the first of the prominent visitors at this time was the French writer
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 ...
.

Caring for and maintaining Bacharach’s building monuments, spurred on in the early 20th century by the Rhenish Association for Monument Care and Landscape Preservation (''Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz'') which took on the then highly endangered town wall and Stahleck Castle ruin jobs, and the great dedication of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to the ''Wernerkapelle'' have seen to it that Bacharach is still a jewel of the ''Rheinromantik'' and a multifaceted documentary site of
mediaeval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...
architecture on the Middle Rhine. The ''Wernerkapelle'' ruin is under monumental protection and before it a plaque has been placed recalling the inhuman crimes against Jewish residents and also containing a quotation from a prayer by
Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...
for a change in Christians’ thinking in their relationship with the Jews:
“We recognize today that many centuries of blindness have shrouded our eyes, so that we no longer saw the goodliness of Thy Chosen People and no longer recognized our firstborn brother’s traits. We discover now that a mark of Cain stands on our forehead. In the course of the centuries our brother Abel has lain in blood that we spilt, and he has wept tears that we brought forth, because we forgot Thy love. Forgive us the curse that we unrightfully affixed to the Jews’ name. Forgive us for nailing Thee in their flesh for a second time to the Cross. For we knew not what we did........."
Today Bacharach thrives on tourism and wine from Bacharach is still enjoying international popularity. Not to be overlooked, however, are problems arising from a shrinking population, itself brought about by a lack of prospects.
Amalgamations
On 7 June 1969, the formerly self-administering municipality of Steeg was amalgamated with Bacharach.
Town partnerships
*
Overijse
Overijse () is a municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is a suburb of the wider Brussels metropolitan area. The municipality comprises the town of Overijse proper, and the communities of Eizer, Mal ...
,
Flemish Brabant
Flemish Brabant ( ; ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
*
Santenay,
Côte-d'Or
Côte-d'Or () is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124. ,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
Coat of arms
The town’s
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
might be described thus: Per fess at the nombril point sable a lion rampant Or armed, langued and crowned gules, and bendy lozengy argent and azure.
Population development
The number 1871-1987 are census results
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Bacharach lies on the Rhine’s left bank and can be reached by ''
Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...
'' 9 or the Rhine. Running regularly to and from Bacharach are the excursion ships of the ''Köln-Düsseldorfer-Rheinschiffahrt'', or KD for short.
Transport routes on the other side of the river can be reached by ferry from the ''Engelsburg'' (castle) over to Kaub.
The town belongs to the ''Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund'' – a local transport association. Bacharach lies on the
West Rhine Railway
The West Rhine railway (German: ''Linke Rheinstrecke'', literally 'left (bank of the) Rhine route') is a famously picturesque, double-track electrified railway line running for 185 km from Cologne via Bonn, Koblenz, and Bingen to Mainz. It ...
and is served by
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
-
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 ...
—
Boppard
Boppard (), formerly also spelled Boppart, is a town and municipality (since the 1976 inclusion of 9 neighbouring villages, ''Ortsbezirken'') in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UN ...
—Bacharach—
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 languages, Celtic word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the shoal behind the ...
—
Mainz
Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
Regionalbahn
The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...
trains (as of August 2022).
Culture and sightseeing

*
Timber-frame
Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...
houses, which can be found throughout the town. A whole row of them borders Bacharach along with the town wall along the Rhine.
*''Altes Haus'' (“Old House”),
mediaeval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...
timber-frame house from 1368
*''Haus Utsch'' from 1585; in its time, Friedrich Wilhelm Utsch, the ''Jäger aus Kurpfalz'' (“Hunter from the
Electorate of the Palatinate
The Electoral Palatinate was a Imperial State, constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy ...
” – a character in a well known song) lived there.
*Old postal station
*Old marketplace
*
Electorate of the Palatinate
The Electoral Palatinate was a Imperial State, constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy ...
''
Amt'' wine cellar
*Former
Electorate of the Palatinate
The Electoral Palatinate was a Imperial State, constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy ...
mint
Mint or The Mint may refer to:
Plants
* Lamiaceae, the mint family
** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint"
Coins and collectibles
* Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins
* Mint condition, a state of like-new ...
*Toll yard with
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...
’s
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
Church
*Saint Peter’s
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
Church
*Ruin of the
Gothic ''Wernerkapelle''
*
Saint Joseph
According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus.
Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...
's
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
Chapel
*Town wall ringing Bacharach, parts of which may be visited
*Town wall towers: ''Diebesturm'' (“Thief’s Tower”, remnants), ''Zehnt-turm'' (“Tithe Tower”), ''Spitzenturm'' (“Pointed Tower”, remnants), ''Postenturm'' (“Post Tower”), ''Holztor'' (“Wooden Gate”, also called ''Steeger Tor''), ''Liebesturm'' (“Love Tower”), ''Halbturm'' (“Half Tower”, remnants), ''Kühlbergturm'' (“Kühlberg Tower”, remnants), ''Sonnenturm'' (“Sun Tower”, remnants), ''Hutturm'' (“Hat Tower”), ''Zollturm'' (no longer existing), ''Kranentor'', ''Markttor'' (“Market Gate”), ''Münztor'' (“Mint Gate”), ''Winandturm'' (“Winand’s Tower”). The town fortifications are among the best preserved in Rhineland-Palatinate.
*Island in the Rhine, the ''Bacharacher Werth''.
*
Stahleck Castle (''Burg Stahleck'')
*Remnants of a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
road up from Stahleck Castle
*Stahlberg Castle (''Burg Stahlberg'') above Bacharach-Steeg
*Blücher monument stone at the Rhine ferry
Bacharach in art
*
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...
: ''Der Rabbi von Bacherach'' 1840. Text at
also a further 2 of Heine’s poems on the heritage theme
**dsb., Gedicht "Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten...
also a list of all together 9 musical versions of the Heine poem
*
Clemens Brentano
Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (also Klemens; pseudonym: Clemens Maria Brentano ; ; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz a ...
:
Loreley
The Lorelei ( ; or , or ; also found as ''Loreleï'', ''Lore Lay'', ''Lore-Ley'', ''Lurley'', ''Lurelei'' and ''Lurlei'' throughout history) is a , steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at ...
-Gedicht: „Zu Bacharach am Rheine …“
*
Gerd Hergen Lübben: „DER TEXTFUND ZU BACHERACH
HEILIGEN WERNER UND Pogrom">POGROM
A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...
IN BACHERACH AM RHEIN« / NACHKLANG]“. In: ''DIE BRÜCKE – Forum for antiracist politics and culture'', Heft 140, 2/2006 (Saarbrücken), S. 126-128
* Guillaume Apollinaire: poem ''LA LORELEY'' In: Œuvres poétiques, Gallimard, Paris 1965, S. 115f, in German and French in
S. 48f.- set to music by
* ''Kulinarische Sommernacht'' (“Culinary Summer Night”, every fourth weekend in August)
*
tournament
* ''Tal to Tal'' – car-free adventure day, upper Rhine Gorge (every last Sunday in June)
* ''Vierthälermarkt'' – mediaeval market in Bacharach
, (1772–1832), landscape and historical painter, Russian court and cabinet painter
*
* Friedrich Ludwig Wagner (publisher): ''Bacharach und die Geschichte der Viertälerorte: Bacharach, Steeg, Diebach und Manubach''. Verein für die Geschichte der Stadt Bacharach und der Viertäler e.V., 1996.