Metternich Castle is an ancient castle in the

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 ...

state of the

Federal Republic of 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 constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

. It is also known as the Beilstein Castle (''Burg Beilstein''), being within the municipal bounds of in Beilstein, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Location

The castle, now in ruins, is located in the municipality of Beilstein on the river

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 ...

History

The history of the castle goes back to 1268 when the castle (referred to as Bilstein Castle) was first mentioned. It is thought the castle is even older, with some historians indicating 1129 as the year of construction. Until the first half of 17th century, the castle was owned by Counts von

Nassau-Dillenburg The County of Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire from the period of the formal recognition of the countly title in 1159 (though "de facto" sovereignty began in 1125) until the declaration of the Duchy of Nassau in 1806 with ...

. In 1637, the castle became the property of the

House of Metternich The House of Metternich was an old German nobility, German noble family originating in the Rhineland. The most prominent member was Prince Klemens von Metternich, who was the dominant figure at the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815). As a former re ...

, hence its current name, Metternich Castle. The last member of the family to own the castle was

Klemens von Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ( ; 15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich () or Prince Metternich, was a German statesman and diplomat in the service of the Austrian Empire. ...

, one of the most famous diplomats of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

he was foreign minister from 1809 to 1848. In 1689, during 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 ...

, the castle was destroyed by French troops.

External links

Metternich Castle

Metternich Burg
{{Authority control Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Buildings and structures in Cochem-Zell Castles on the Moselle House of Metternich