Ehrenfels Castle near Bingen was built for the Archbishop of Mainz around 1210 to protect the Rheingau in the Electorate of Mainz against attacks from the north. It served as a toll post from the beginning of the 14th century; first for the benefit of the king’s coffers, and later as a source of revenue for the archbishopric of Mainz. From the middle of the 14th century, it became an arch-episcopal residence and after 1379 it came into the possession of the Mainz Cathedral chapter.

Perched on a cliff above the Binger Loch, the castle was razed by the French in 1689, and later the outer fringes of the complex were removed for the laying out of vineyard terraces. The complex, which is roughly square-shaped, is distinguished by its very high and strong curtain wall with two corner towers from different construction periods. At the same time the wall served as an outer wall for several residential buildings. The outer wall of the great hall on the Rhine side is still three stories high.

Of the external buildings, an outer bailey with bastions and the moat, only faint traces remain. Of the former toll and fortifications complex, there remains only a ruined tollhouse on the riverbank below the castle and the Mäuseturm on an adjacent island.

The picturesque location of the castle, set amidst vineyards, made Ehrenfels one of the most celebrated motifs of Rhine Romanticism.