The tower was built as a watchtower in the first half of the 14th century to protect Ehrenfels Castle, which collected toll duties for the Electorate of Mainz (on the right bank of the Rhine). There are many legends about the meaning of the word Mäuseturm. First recorded in 1516, it is derived from the Middle High German word ‘mûsen’, meaning to look out, to keep watch.

According to legend, the Mäuseturm, or an earlier version of it, was built by Archbishop Hatto II of Mainz as early as the 10th century. After he committed a brutal murder, the bishop had to flee to the tower where he was eaten by mice - or so the story goes!

The medieval tower was rebuilt between 1856 and 1858, with the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV becoming personally involved and the architect of Cologne Cathedral, Ernst Friedrich Zwirner carrying out the work. The romantic castle with its stair tower, corner lookout, and neo-Gothic battlements still sits decorously perched on a rock in the Rhine. Along with its function of acting as signal tower at the Binger Loch, it also provides a striking border marker for the Prussian Rhine province.