Nassau Castle

Nassau, Germany, Germany

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Nassau Castle is a prominent medieval fortress perched on a rocky hill above the town of Nassau in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, overlooking the Lahn River valley.

Founded around 1120 by Counts Rupert I and Arnold I of Laurenburg—progenitors of the House of Nassau dynasty that includes the Dutch royal family and Luxembourg's grand dukes—it features a distinctive 33-meter pentagonal bergfried tower rebuilt in the 14th century, a late-Romanesque palas hall from 1220-1230, and remnants of ring walls following extensive 1970s-1980s restorations.

Serving as the ancestral seat after a 1159 fief agreement with Trier's archbishop, it endured feuds and divisions like the 1255 "Brothers' Division" before partial decay; today, it stands as a museum and viewing platform preserved by Rhineland-Palatinate's state administration.