Bacharach
- Bacharach. Source: LAD
In the 19th century, the famous French Romanticist Victor Hugo described Bacharach as one of the “world’s most beautiful towns”.
Even today, the town is still fascinating visitors with its rich half-timbered façades, including the Alte Posthof (old post office) with its splendid inner yard and the Alte Haus (old house) on the market square, which was built in 1568.
The peculiar and sophisticated style of the parish church of St. Peter, which was built starting in 1100, shows how self-confident the community was then: in the Middle Ages, the staple rights accorded to it made Bacharach an important town.
Its favourable position on the Rhine made it one of the most important places for trading, stapling, and transshipping wine and wood. The wine shipped from here to every part of Europe was known as ‘Bacharacher’, even though some of it wasn’t made in Bacharach.
Today, ‘Bacharacher’ wine comes only from here, and some of the winegrowers from Bacharach and the neighbouring township of Steeg make some of the highest quality wine in the Middle Rhine region. Built as early as in the 11th and rebuilt in the 20th century, Stahleck Castle towers over Bacharach.
Halfway up to the castle are the prominent ruins of the Gothic Werner Chapel, whose construction began in 1294 and lasted 140 years. In the lateral valley behind it, Stahlberg Castle once watched over the township of Steeg from a projecting rock. Of the 13th century castle, only a ruin remains to be admired today.
Together with Oberwesel, Bacharach has the best-preserved fortifications in the Middle Rhine region, dating back to the 14th century. The sentry walk along the battlements on the Rhine side is completely passable, and seven of the original towers have been preserved in their full height. Its name indicates that Bacharach is of Celtic origin. Its original name, Baccaracus, means something like ‘the Celtic country estate of Baccarus’.
- Stahleck Castle. Source: LAD
- Bacharach. Source: LAD