Vianden Castle
Interesting facts
- In 1820 the castle was sold at auction to a local alderman for 3,200 florins, and he then sold it off piece by piece, down to the copper and lead.
- William the Silent built Luxembourg's first blast furnace at Vianden in 1564, two years before leaving to lead the Dutch revolt against Philip II.
- After William joined the revolt, Philip II confiscated the castle and handed it to Peter Ernst von Mansfeld, governor of Luxembourg.
- Victor Hugo stayed in Vianden in 1871 and made drawings of the ruined castle.
- A fire started by lightning in 1667 destroyed the chapel's original Gothic look, which was only restored with a new roof in 1979.
- The Byzantine Gallery, with its ten trefoil windows, is said to have been used for indoor archery practice.
- An excavation in 1994 uncovered a late-antique tower, dated from its timber scaffolding, the only known survivor of the earliest castle.
- The first fortification here was a late-Roman outpost on the road between Reims and Cologne, abandoned in the 5th century.
- Yolanda of Vianden, a count's daughter set on becoming a nun, was kept at the castle by her parents in the 1240s until they relented.
- Vianden castle served as a filming location for the 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire.
Why it is worth it
Vianden Castle stands on a rock spur high above the Our valley and the small town of Vianden in the north of Luxembourg. It is one of the largest fortified castles west of the Rhine. A Roman fort and an early medieval refuge stood here first. The first stone castle, a watchtower inside an oval wall, went up around 1000. Over the next two and a half centuries the counts of Vianden, who were rivals of the House of Luxembourg, built a Romanesque residence. It had a keep, a great hall, a long gallery and an unusual ten-sided chapel, dated by its timber scaffolding to around 1170. In the mid-13th century the whole castle was remade in Gothic style. In 1621 Maurice of Orange-Nassau added a Renaissance mansion with a banqueting hall. The county had passed to the House of Nassau in the early 15th century.
The castle's survival is a story of rescue. In 1820 King William I of the Netherlands sold it to a local alderman, who stripped it and sold off the roof tiles, panelling, doors, windows, beams and lead. Public anger led the king to buy back the ruin in 1827, but little was done for decades. Prince Henry of the Netherlands re-roofed the chapel in 1851. Grand Duke Adolphe then brought in the German castle specialist Bodo Ebhardt, and his work stopped with the First World War. In November 1944 members of the Luxembourg Resistance held the castle against an SS attack. Real reconstruction began only after Grand Duke Jean handed the castle to the state in 1977, and it was finished in 1990.
A visit today leads through the Romanesque and Gothic rooms: the two-level chapel, the Byzantine Gallery with its trefoil windows, an arms hall lined with armour and pikes, and banqueting rooms with a fireplace dated 1450. Much of what you see is careful reconstruction, and it does bring back the scale of a great medieval residence. The terraces and wall walks give long views over the wooded valley and the town below.
Getting there
The castle rises above the town of Vianden in northern Luxembourg, about 37 km from Luxembourg City. Luxembourg-Findel Airport (LUX) is about 34 km away.
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From the encyclopaedia
Vianden Castle, located in Vianden in the north of Luxembourg, is one of the largest fortified castles west of the Rhine. With origins dating from the fourth century as a Roman outpost and the 10th century, the more familiar castle form was built in the Romanesque style from the 11th to 14th centuries. Gothic transformations and trimmings were added at the end of this period. A Renaissance mansion was added in the 17th century but thereafter the castle was allowed to fall into ruins. It has, however, recently been fully restored and is open to visitors. Vianden Castle is widely regarded as the best castle to visit in Luxembourg.
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