Rüdesheim

The heart of Rüdesheim's old town.

This late Gothic corner tower was built in the 15th century as part of the old city wall. It is 20.5 m high and has an inner diameter of 5 m. The walls are 1 m thick. One of the four floors contains a dungeon which is only accessible through a hole in the vault. The tower used to stand directly on the Rhine. In the last century it was home to an inn called "Zum Adler", from which the tower took its name. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe lived here when he visited Rüdesheim, admiring the magnificent view of the river. Today the Adlerturm is owned by a bank.

A series of beautiful aristocratic residences dating back to a variety of cultural eras can be found on Oberstraße: Frankensteiner Hof, Ritter‘scher Hof and Bassenheimer Hof. The street is also home to what is undoubtedly the most attractive of all of Rüdesheim’s aristocratic dwellings, the Brömserhof, which was built in 1542.

The archbishops of Mainz owned the Brömserburg from the early 10th to the early 19th century. They transformed the original fortification into a residential castle in the 12th century. It used to be completely surrounded by water. Walls more than two metres thick, and vaulted ceilings with apexes one metre thick, resisted every attack. The Duke of Longville could destroy only the southeastern part of the castle. The clergy sold Brömserburg in 1803, and the castle passed through several hands until it was acquired by the town of Rüdesheim in 1941. Today the castle hosts the Rheingau Wine Museum, the oldest wine-related collection in the world. The castle garden contains old wine presses from different periods.

A monument from 1883 in the Niederwald Landscape park.

The temple lies between the top station of the gondola lift and the Niederwald Monument, and offers views across the countryside. The Count of Ostein built it as an attraction in 1788. During the 19th century Romantic era the temple drew many artists, including famous composer Beethoven and the writers Goethe and Brentano. Allied bombers destroyed the temple in November 1944, but it was rebuilt and reopened in 2006.