The Guns of Marksburg Castle - the Heritage of the Middle Rhine

Travel Blog No. 6

A 1908 postcard of  the magnificent Kaiser Wilhelm II monument 

at Coblenz. This is a dramatic "corner" where the Moselle River 

meets the Rhine, and a splendid place to board the buses for our trip to 

Marksburg Castle. The original statue was obliterated by the Americans 

in 1945, and only replaced in 1993.  (Its history is HERE)

As we slept, the ultra-modernViking BESTLA thrust its way upriver, its electronic systems silently communicating with navigational beacons and the control towers at river locks. The only sound was the splash of our flat bow-wave over the intermittent belts of heavy stone, laid down for erosion control. We had noticed that at night waves of moisture-laden air settles between the steep walls of the Rhine Valley, and as our vessel cooled, that vapour condensed  and  lay thick upon all the surfaces -  the upper decks, skylight windows and chaise lounges. Late at night I enjoyed stepping out onto our balcony in the moonlight,  to enjoy a private commune with nature and the darkened villages that drifted by.    

At sunrise our Gang of Ten assembled for a sumptuous breakfast, and as we chatted the BESTLA reached Coblenz, a city that was famously occupied by the U.S. Army in 1919.  Our berth was alongside the magnificent stone monument atop which is mounted a statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I.  We took several quick photos of course, but our primary interest was getting ready for our  9:30 - 12 Noon shore excursion.  A troop of buses was formed up to load and transport us to Marksburg Castle at Braubach. My wife had reason to be excited. For months she had been anticipating the "Rhine Castle" leg of our journey, and she was not to be disappointed.  Between us we took about 100 photos, many identical to those you would find if you Googled "Marksburg Castle".  Today's sampling will include a few vintage images in the mix,  to better illustrate what the travel and tourism sites don't tell you.

This postcard view of Marksburg Castle is more than a century old, but I have added

a German stamp which was issued in February of 2015, months after our return to Canada.

The buses delivered us to a large parking terrace, sited at the rear of the castle, where the efficient tour guides quickly sorted us out.  Each of the them carries a large iron key, and a great fuss is made of unlocking the heavy front gate... but it is just one of the tricks used to control the pace, and keep the groups from bunching up. There is a peep-hole in the door to allow the guide to know when the preceding tour group has moved on.  The interior of the fortress has many steep steps, and a few tight passageways, so its important that the tourists are not stepping on each others heels.  

Six members of our "Gang of Ten".  Previously identified were (LtoR)  Lina, Lily, Janet and Spencer.  On the right Dr. Jason Su and his wife Sophia, two of our newest Taiwan friends.

The Allied air forces (including the R.C.A.F.) bombed all of Germany's cities, and many of the bridging points on the Rhine, but fortunately some monuments were spared.  Marksburg Castle and the town of Braubach turn up in a few reconnaissance photos, like the example below, but they were not bombed. Still, American artillery did rain a few shells on the mountain in 1945, firing from the opposite bank of the Rhine. And yet Marksburg is said to be the most intact of any of the Rhine castles.  Much of what tourists encounter in Germany today has been repaired or even completely rebuilt from old blueprints, but this castle is the real thing - a treasure of authentic Rhine Heritage.

Marksburg Castle has been in the hands of heritage preservationists 
since 1900.  In the 1930s the castle became the headquarters of the group
of architects, historians and archeologists -  German Castle Association

St. Marks' Castle -   Marksburg Castle perches 492 feet above the Rhine River and is today accessed by a valley road which leads up to a massive car-battery recycling plant hidden in the trees.  The original bastion dates to the 13th Century, and in 1437 a chapel was erected, dedicated to St. Mark.   The castle now had a permanent name. Several reasons are given for the its longevity, from guarding royal territorial boundaries, to defence of Braubach's productive lead and silver mines. The mines, first exploited by the Romans, are now closed. The mining jobs were replaced by a plant which recycles automobile batteries.

Below is a helpful diagram. Near the bus park there are large and very informative display boards that explain the history and features of Marksburg. (Sorry, no room for them in a short Blog article.) We  climbed the Chapel Tower but did not go up into the tower labelled "the Square Keep". There were 198 passengers in our Viking tour, divided into groups of about 30,  and it would be near impossible to get us all up and down, and still have time to take in the entire site.

The lower bastion wall offers a superb view of the Rhine River.  The crenellated turret (with flag) has not been restored. The floor rotted away perhaps a century ago. Our longship was already several miles upriver, and we would chase after her in the motor buses. The leap-frog technique of sallying forth on a shore excursion and then catching up to the boat at lunch time, works brilliantly.  

This flag designates  Marksburg Castle as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It costs almost a million dollars to get a site proposal through UNESCO bureaucracy,

followed by annual $$ costs.  Few can prove that the "WHS" logo actually boosts their profits. 

Marksburg has been attracting paying visitors since the 1840s, and it will survive the U.N.

In spite of the bunching up,  my wife did manage to secure a few shots of me alone with the stone. With the exception of frequent murmurs of appreciation that drifted from our appreciative group, the castle was nearly silent.  The footing was often so precarious that everyone was stepping about very carefully, and so there were no heavy footfalls echoing off the ancient walls.  As well there were no children about, so  it was a deliciously quiet morning.

THE GUNS OF MARKSBURG

Below, the gun platform (GROSSE BATTERIE) at the lower level. This battery overlooks the Rhine, but  I have no idea if these cannon were ever fired in defence of the castle.  Research tells me that they are Swedish and French cannon "preserved" on a rampart at Marksburg. They were war trophies but could easily have been re-purposed for defence. But were they? We were not shown any powder magazine, and there is no display of balls or shot. True, in a corner there is a small nest of stone balls of odd sizes. These might once have been thrown by mortars, but not by these wheeled cannon, which appear to be 24 pounders. Most of the guns are said to be Swedish, captured during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), and a few French. One was said (in an old travel guide) to have been a trophy from the Battle of Waterloo.

One or more cannon were sometimes fired in a ceremonial, usually to note the visit of a "Royal," as when England's Queen Victoria passed by. The German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II was a patron of the restoration of Marksburg, and he visited the castle in 1905 to examine the work. To mark that important occasion his personal standard was flown from the tower and a few of the Marksburg guns were fired in salute. Later in the day, another salute was fired to mark the Kaiser's departure. Who were the gunners in 1905? Perhaps Braubach reservists. Imagine firing a cannon over 250 years old! What would be your level of trust?  Today, every visitor to Marksburg enjoys posing with them. I posed, and so did our good friends Lina and Charlie Lin (below).

And for an historical comparison - a postcard of the Great Battery (die Grosse Batterie), published in the 1920s:

Swedish Cannon  of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) preserved
at Marksburg Castle. This picture postcard was mailed in 1926.

How would the battery have appeared when Kaiser Wilhelm visited and was saluted in September of 1905?  A good question. Photo evidence is lacking, but my guess is that at least a few of the Swedish guns sat on an open rampart, as shown in a painting (below) by Hans Rudolf Shulze.

One of the great German war artists of 1914-18 was Hans Rudolf Shulze.

He prepared this view of the Grosse Batterie on an open rampart, for a

popular series of postcards  sold at Marksburg and down in the town.

SOME OF THE EXHIBITS

I found very detailed written descriptions of Marksburg's dungeons and the infamous "hunde-hol" or "doghole", some accounts published as early as the 1850s. There is a room full of torture impleents and today's guides do linger on this crowd-pleaser. But I will leave that subject for you to explore, should you decide to take a Rhine River Cruise.  This next photo records a rather strange moment. The wine cellar (weinkeller) is filled with fascinating artifacts, including the leather bellows used to pressurize the barrels and leather flagons for drawing off a table serving of wine.  Note that there are electric lights mounted, but they are not turned on. The cellar was in total darkness, but my flash filled the space and saved the shot.

After the panic visit to  the Romano-German Museum in Cologne, my wife and I fell in sync in our photo coverage of the trip, often dropping back to grab several fast shots after our tour group had moved on.  This next shot is one of hers, taken in the armoury at Marksburg. What was I closing in on?

I was recording a few details in the manufacture of the old German weaponry  - in this instance the cranking mechanism on a crossbow.  At home I have bronze components from two ancient crossbows. They were recovered from Chinese tombs, and I acquired them in Hong Kong in 1984.  Hence my interest in comparable European weaponry.  The Marksburg armour collection has been moved around several times over the years, as curators found better ways to display what they had.  I have photos of the armour taken in the 1930s which tell me that a few substitutions have been made, or perhaps some artifacts were stolen in 1945.  

We took several photographs of the living rock surfaces inside the castle walls.  I must admit I did cluck-cluck a few times about the curatorial choice of leaving these surfaces swept bare.  Not simply because it was a bit dangerous for some of the older members of our tour group, but I don't believe it is an authentic recreation.  For centuries Marksburg had working stables and there was a smithy who kept the horses well shod. These uneven stone surfaces would have been levelled off with gravel or crushed stone so that goods carts could roll easily, and there would be no risk of (expensive) horses tripping and breaking their legs.

After returning to the buses we blitzed down through the old town of Braubach perhaps a bit too swiftly, but I suppose most of us were excited to see what culinary delights would be served at noon on board the BESTLA.  As we sat to our lunch the last few clouds scattered, and we could enjoy a relaxing afternoon on top, letting our ankles recover. Our knowledgeable cruise director, Alex, called out the names of each and every castle which drifted by, adding interesting bits of historical trivia and Rhine culture.  It being a Sunday, many thousands of German families were out on rural day-trips, and scores of them waved down to us from castle battlements.  The road traffic was rather light that day, but an occasional electric commuter train would zing past, and riders among bicycle touring parties would give us a friendly shout as they passed.  We were always pushing upriver, so serious cyclists moved at a faster clip than did our longship. 

Goats now freely graze on these terraces of an abandoned Rhine vineyard.

My only regret that afternoon was failing to have a camera in hand the moment when a three-engined Junkers JU 52 orbited twice over the river.  It appeared to be the civilian version of Germany's most famous transport aircraft of WW2.  Nobody else on deck seemed to be impressed, but I was thrilled.

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