The Lawyer Who Built a Viewing Room in the Ruins

In 1815, a lawyer named Hermann Faber purchased Burg Klopp, a site that had been destroyed during the Thirty Years' War and subsequently by French forces and Mainz forces in the 17th and 18th centuries. Faber built a stairway up the outside of the walls, leading to a viewing room at the top of the gate tower. Inside, he furnished the room with books of poetry, a comfortable sofa, and a fully equipped writing desk. He laid out the grounds as a garden with romantic paths through grapevines, trees, and flowers, and installed an aeolian harp.

The castle stands on a hill that may have held a Roman fortification built by Nero Claudius Drusus at Bingium around 10 CE. Known as Drusenburg or Drusúsburg, it served the Archbishopric of Mainz alongside Ehrenfels Castle and the Mouse Tower to collect tolls on river trade. Local legends say Emperor Henry IV was imprisoned by his son on this hill in 1105 or 1106, which is also the first surviving mention of a castle at this location.

The castle saw repeated destruction and rebuilding, including a reconstruction in 1653 and a new Gothic building built by architect Eberhard Soherr between 1875 and 1879. By the 19th century, the ruins were a major sight of the Romantic Rhine, inspiring J.M.W. Turner to sketch a view from the River Nahe in 1844. By the end of that century, the visitors' book contained some 75,000 entries.

In 1853, the gatehouse, the bridge across the moat, and the fortifications were rebuilt for Ludwig Maria Cron. The bergfried was rebuilt as a 26-metre-high crenellated tower with four corner turrets. Today, the base of the bergfried, the moat, and parts of the southern curtain wall are the only remaining medieval remnants. The larger Gothic building has served as the seat of government and mayoral residence since 1897.

The Gothic building still houses administration while the bergfried served as a local history museum until 1998. The hill commands the river, providing a backdrop for fireworks during Rhein in Flammen. On the first Saturday in July, ships travel from Trechtingshausen to Rüdesheim to watch sparks fly over the heights where a lawyer once sat with his books and sofa.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons