Ehrenbreitstein Fortress
- The Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein. Source: LAD
Ehrenbreitstein is one of the largest and most impressive of the 19th century fortresses. Although there is nothing left of the original medieval castle with the earliest pentagonal keep on the Rhine, the ground plan of the baroque fortress, blown up by the French in 1801, can still be seen.
The castle was built around the year 1000 by Erenbert of the Konrad family from whom it takes its name of Ehrenbreitstein. During the later 12th century, the archbishops of Treves strengthened and enlarged the castle and built a smaller castle, Helfenstein, to the south to add extra protection.
- Kurtine. Source: LAD
- The Fortress of Ehrenbreitstein. Source: LAD
From the 16th century on, the castle was added to and extended, growing slowly into a massive fortress complex. Time and again, when danger threatened, the fortress served as a sanctuary for troubled rulers or for the holy relics of Treves, including the Holy Coat.
Following the occupation of Coblence by French Revolutionary troops in 1797, the defenders of Ehrenbreitenstein were forced by hunger into surrendering the castle in 1799 after a siege lasting more than a year. Shortly afterwards, the buildings of the fortress were blown up.
In 1815, the Rhine province became a possession of Prussia, and from 1816 to 1834 Ehrenbreitenstein was rebuilt for purely functional purposes and as part of a ring of fortresses around Coblence. While the architecture on the defensive side of the fortress has clearly been conceived for military purposes, the classical façades of the courtyard provide a contrast.
Contrary to the decisions reached at Versailles in 1918, Ehrenbreitenstein was neither razed nor blown up after World War I.
The fortress today is home to the administration offices of the body that looks after the castles and antiquities of the Rhineland Palatinate, as well as the regional museum of Coblence with its collection on the history of technology, a youth hostel, restaurants, and local authority offices.