Short facts
- Kaub
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The "floating" castle
After the Loreley, the "Pfalz" in Kaub is probably the most popular photo motif on the Middle Rhine. In 1326, it was built by Ludwig the Bavarian on a cliff in the Rhine, so that customs duties could be collected from ships sailing up the Rhine.
At first, the moated castle consisted of a pentagonal, 36-metre-high tower, which was then surrounded by a 2.60-metre-wide wall, which concealed a battlement and embrasures. This wall also served as a breakwater and icebreaker.
The castle also has a deep dungeon for those who did not want to pay a toll. The Pfalzgrafenstein became strategically important through the famous Prussian field marshal Blücher, because he crossed the Rhine with 60.000 soldiers, 20.000 horses and 200 guns at the turn of the year 1813/14 to follow Napoleon and his fleeing troops. This event is also impressively presented in the Blücher Museum in Kaub.
At first, the moated castle consisted of a pentagonal, 36-metre-high tower, which was then surrounded by a 2.60-metre-wide wall, which concealed a battlement and embrasures. This wall also served as a breakwater and icebreaker.
The castle also has a deep dungeon for those who did not want to pay a toll. The Pfalzgrafenstein became strategically important through the famous Prussian field marshal Blücher, because he crossed the Rhine with 60.000 soldiers, 20.000 horses and 200 guns at the turn of the year 1813/14 to follow Napoleon and his fleeing troops. This event is also impressively presented in the Blücher Museum in Kaub.
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