# Klopp Castle

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**Klopp Castle** (German: ***Burg Klopp***) is a castle in the town of [Bingen am Rhein](/source/Bingen_am_Rhein) in the [Upper Middle Rhine Valley](/source/Rhine_Gorge) in [Rhineland-Palatinate](/source/Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. In the nineteenth century, the [bergfried](/source/Bergfried) (similar to a [keep](/source/Keep)) from the original medieval fortified castle was restored and a new building added which houses the town's administration.

## History

The castle stands on a hill above the town with a wide-ranging view, which may have been the site of a Roman fortification built by [Nero Claudius Drusus](/source/Nero_Claudius_Drusus) at *Bingium* around 10 CE.[1][2] *Drusenburg* or *Drususburg* was an early name for the castle.[3] The hill is one of three locations where local legend says that [Emperor Henry IV](/source/Henry_IV,_Holy_Roman_Emperor) was imprisoned by his son in 1105 or 1106, this being the first surviving mention of a castle there.[4][5][6]

The last medieval castle on the site was built in the 13th century: possibly around 1281,[1] possibly between 1240, when *Kloppberg* (Klopp Hill) is mentioned as the residence of a churchman, and 1277, the first mention of *Burg Clopp*. Together with [Ehrenfels Castle](/source/Burg_Ehrenfels_(Hessen)) on the opposite side of the Rhine and later the [Mouse Tower](/source/Mouse_Tower), it enabled the [Archbishopric of Mainz](/source/Archbishopric_of_Mainz) to exact [tolls](/source/Tariff) on river trade. In 1438 the archbishop sold the town and the castle to the [cathedral chapter](/source/Cathedral_chapter) and the townspeople effectively controlled it. The castle was already decaying in the 16th century[7] and was destroyed in the [Thirty Years' War](/source/Thirty_Years'_War), but was rebuilt in 1653.[6] The French destroyed it again in 1689 in the [War of the Palatine Succession](/source/War_of_the_Palatine_Succession), and in the final phase of the [War of the Spanish Succession](/source/War_of_the_Spanish_Succession) in 1713, the Mainz forces themselves blew up what was left to prevent its use by the enemy.[8] Early 19th-century paintings show ruined walls, one connecting the castle to the town, but the castle itself levelled.[9]

The state of [Hesse](/source/Hesse) acquired the ruin in 1815 and sold it to Hermann Faber, a lawyer. It was later owned by a Berliner called Rosenthal,[10] who renovated the well. Both charged tourists to climb the gate tower as a viewing platform;[9] Faber built a stairway up the outside of the walls and a viewing room at the top which he furnished with books of poetry, a comfortable sofa and a fully equipped writing desk, and laid out the grounds as a garden with romantic paths through the grapevines, trees and flowers. He also installed an [aeolian harp](/source/Aeolian_harp).[11] The castle was one of the major sights of the Romantic Rhine. [J.M.W. Turner](/source/Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner) sketched a view of it from the [River Nahe](/source/Nahe_(Rhine)) in 1844.[12] By the end of the 19th century, some 75,000 entries had been made in the visitors' book.[13]

In 1853 the gatehouse, the bridge across the [moat](/source/Moat) and the fortifications were rebuilt for Ludwig Maria Cron. The bergfried was rebuilt as a [crenellated](/source/Battlement) tower 26 metres high, with four corner turrets.[9] In 1875–79, a new [Gothic](/source/Gothic_Revival_architecture) building was built on the site. The architect for both was the mayor, Eberhard Soherr.[9][3][14] The base of the bergfried, the moat and parts of the southern [curtain wall](/source/Curtain_wall_(fortification)) and its [chemin de ronde](/source/Chemin_de_ronde) are the only remnants of the medieval castle.

## Current use

The rebuilt bergfried formerly housed the town's local history museum,[1][2] which moved in 1998 to a former power station on the waterfront.[15][16] The larger Gothic building has been the seat of government and mayoral residence since 1897.[2][9][15] There is also a gourmet restaurant.[17]

## Events

- [Rhein in Flammen](/source/Rhein_in_Flammen): On the first Saturday in July, ships travel from [Trechtingshausen](/source/Trechtingshausen) to [Rüdesheim am Rhein](/source/R%C3%BCdesheim_am_Rhein) to view fireworks at [Burg Reichenstein](/source/Burg_Reichenstein_(Rhein)), [Burg Rheinstein](/source/Burg_Rheinstein), [Assmannshausen](/source/Assmannshausen), the Mouse Tower, Ehrenfels Castle, Klopp Castle and the [Brömserburg](/source/Br%C3%B6mserburg).

## References

1. Robert R. Taylor, *The Castles of the Rhine: Recreating the Middle Ages in Modern Germany*, Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University, 1998, ISBN 978-0-88920-268-9, [p. 291](https://books.google.com/books?id=vTZ5fD3hKgcC&q=The+Romans+established+a+castle+here&pg=PA292).

1. Monk Gibbon, *The Rhine and its Castles*, London: Putnam, 1957, OCLC 1327080, [p. 140](https://books.google.com/books?id=t3QTAQAAMAAJ&q=Klopp).

1. *Deutsche Bauzeitung* 66, 13 August 1881, vol. 15 [p. 371](https://books.google.com/books?id=_dlLAAAAYAAJ&dq=Burg+Klopp+Drusenburg&pg=PA371) (in German)

1. Taylor, pp. 291, [293](https://books.google.com/books?id=vTZ5fD3hKgcC&q=+also+share+this+mythical+distinction%21&pg=PA292).

1. According to Gibbon, [pp. 139–40](https://books.google.com/books?id=t3QTAQAAMAAJ&q=Klopp+in+Bingen+the+final+tragic+scene), they met and spent the night together at the castle but the imprisonment was elsewhere.

1. Michael Fuhr, *Wer will des Stromes Hüter sein? 40 Burgen und Schlösser am Mittelrhein: ein Führer*, [Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Rheinland-Pfalz](/source/Rhineland-Palatinate_General_Directorate_for_Cultural_Heritage), Burgen, Schlösser, Altertümer Rheinland-Pfalz, Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2002, ISBN 978-3-7954-1460-3, [p. 18](https://books.google.com/books?id=5oEjAQAAIAAJ&q=Burg+Klopp+1105+erstmals+urkundlich+belegt+1282+als+%E2%80%9EBurg+Klopp%22+Sitz+von+Burgmannen+des+Mainzer+Erzbischofs+1301+...+kurz+darauf+Wiederaufbau+seit+1483+unter+Verwaltung+des+Mainzer+Domkapitels+1653+Wiederaufbau+nach+Zerst%C3%B6rung+im) (in German)

1. Taylor, [p. 12](https://books.google.com/books?id=vTZ5fD3hKgcC&q=The+physical+decay+of+the+increasingly+unused+castles&pg=PA292).

1. Matthias Schmandt, "Die Besucherbücher der Burg Klopp in Bingen. Eine Quelle zur Geschichte der Rheinreise im 19. Jahrhundert. Werkstattbericht," in Hanna Delf von Wolzogen, ed., *Geschichte und Geschichten aus Mark Brandenburg: Fontanes Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg im Kontext der europäischen Reiseliteratur. Internationales Symposium des Theodor-Fontane-Archivs in Zusammenarbeit mit der Theodor-Fontane-Gesellschaft vom 18. - 22. September 2002 in Potsdam*, Fontaneana 1, Würzburg: Köningshausen & Neumann, 2003, ISBN 978-3-8260-2634-8, pp. 191–212, [pp. 192–93](https://books.google.com/books?id=QYrPKCfi2KYC&q=1713+sogar+noch+weitere+Sprengungen+durchf%C3%BChren%2C+damit+die+Burg+im+Falle+erneuter+Besetzung&pg=PA192) (in German)

1. Taylor, [p. 293](https://books.google.com/books?id=vTZ5fD3hKgcC&q=and+the+remaining+parts+blown+up+by+the+forces+of+Mainz+in+1711&pg=PA292).

1. *Die Rheinlande von der Schweizer bis zur holländischen Grenze: Handbuch für Reisende*, 27th ed. Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1895, [p. 248](https://books.google.com/books?id=C2IWAAAAYAAJ&dq=Burg+Klopp+Rosenthal+Berlin&pg=PA248) (in German)

1. Schmandt, [p. 193](https://books.google.com/books?id=QYrPKCfi2KYC&q=Hermann+Faber+lie%C3%9F+das+Burggel%C3%A4nde+gro%C3%9Fz%C3%BCgig&pg=PA192); but he reports it to have been the bergfried rather than the gate tower.

1. ["Bingen and Burg Klopp from the Nahe"](http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999998&workid=62367&searchid=9534), [Tate Gallery](/source/Tate_Gallery)

1. Schmandt, [p. 194](https://books.google.com/books?id=QYrPKCfi2KYC&q=75.000+Reisende+haben+sich+darin+verewigt&pg=PA192).

1. Helmut Mathy, *Bingen: Geschichte einer Stadt am Mittelrhein. Vom frühen Mittelalter bis zum 19. Jahrhundert*, Binger Stadtgeschichte 1, Stadt Bingen, 1989, repr. Mainz: Zabern, 2003, ISBN 978-3-920615-10-3, [p. 203](https://books.google.com/books?id=P3HjAAAAMAAJ&q=Eberhard+Soherr) (in German)

1. [Bingen](http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/index.php?id=393) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110719015701/http://www.welterbe-mittelrheintal.de/index.php?id=393) 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, Welterbe Oberes Mittelrheintal, retrieved 30 March 2011 (in German)

1. ["Historisches Museum am Strom"](https://web.archive.org/web/20101230134550/http://www.bingen.de/en/4/historisches_museum.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.bingen.de/en/4/historisches_museum.html) on 2010-12-30. Retrieved 2011-03-30.

1. Andrea Schulte-Peevers, *Germany*, 5th ed. Footscray, Victoria: Lonely Planet, 2007, ISBN 978-1-74059-988-7, [p. 494](https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5t5mZE_s5YC&dq=%22One+ofBingen%27s+most+elegant+restaurants%22&pg=PA494).

## Further reading

- J.H.A. Hockenbeck, *Geschichte des Schlosses Klopp bei Bingen: nach vorhandenen Nachrichten und angestellten Untersuchungen zugestellt*. Bingen: Jung, 1882. OCLC 253436863 (in German)
- Matthias Schmandt, "Die Geschichte der Burg Klopp in Bingen". *Heimatjahrbuch des Landkreises Bingen* 2004 (in German)
- Gerd Rupprecht. Ed. Alexander Heising. *Vom Faustkeil zum Frankenschwert. Bingen - Geschichte einer Stadt am Mittelrhein*. Binger Stadtgeschichte 2. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 2003. ISBN 978-3-8053-3257-6 (in German)

## External links

- [Burg Klopp](http://www.ms-visucom.de/cgi-bin/ebidat.pl?id=181) at the European Castle Database (EBIDAT) (in German)
- [Restaurant Burg Klopp](http://www.restaurant-burg-klopp.de/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Klopp Castle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klopp_Castle) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klopp_Castle?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.