Schloss Katzenelnbogen

Katzenelnbogen, Germany, Germany

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Schloss Katzenelnbogen in Katzenelnbogen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, traces its origins to an 11th-century castle built around 1094-1096 by Diether I., laying the foundation for the powerful Counts of Katzenelnbogen who controlled lucrative Rhine customs.

Completely rebuilt in 1371 under Count Wilhelm II as their ancestral seat, it lost residential prominence before the family line ended in 1479, passing to the Landgraves of Hesse amid regional power shifts.

The current main building, often called the "Schloss," is a simple three-story rectangular Renaissance structure erected in 1584 by Enders von der Leyen—possibly on the old palas site—with Fachwerk upper levels, an octagonal southeast corner turret, and modifications in 1779 giving its present form, while a late-Gothic rectangular gate tower survives within the ring wall.