Pfalz Castle in the Rhine near Kaub

In his “Diary of a Journey on the Rhine”), the French poet Victor Hugo (1802-1885) described Pfalzgrafenstein Castle as being “A ship of stone, eternally afloat upon the Rhine, and eternally lying at anchor before the town of Pfalzgrafen.”) It can scarcely be described in a more fitting way.

Pfalzgrafenstein Castle, also simply known as “the Pfalz”), stands on a rock in the middle of the Rhine near the town of Kaub in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. It has been a World Heritage Site of UNESCO since 2002. The layout reminds one of a ship. It is one of the few medieval castles on the Rhine which have never been destroyed. King Ludwig the Bavarian from the House of Wittelsbach had the castle built in order to secure the Kaub Rhine toll, which had been collected since 1257. He even accepted being banned by the Church, which claimed to be the sole receiver of toll revenue. However, as it was impossible for ships to drop anchor off the island, the castle mainly served as a control post for the nearby toll-collecting station in Kaub. It retained this function until both banks of the River Rhine became Prussian in 1867.

The origins of the castle go back to a pentagonal tower built in 1327, around which twelve years later a curtain wall with a covered battlemented parapet was added. In the second half of the 15th Century the tower was extended by adding cornered towers, a half-timbered building and a gable roof. In the 17th Century the castle was strengthened on the upstream side in order to avoid damage to the castle wall. The wall was extended by adding oriels and a second battlemented parapet. At the beginning of the 18th Century the Pfalz was given a Baroque pyramidal tower roof which still today gives the castle its characteristic appearance.

The Pfalz in the Rhine is a popular place for tourists to visit because of its impressive location. It is managed by the Organization “Castles, Palaces and Antiquities of Rhineland-Palatinate”). It accommodates a museum and is the scene of numerous cultural events. During the last restoration in 2007 it again was given a historically-verified coat of paint.