Since 2002, Ehrenbreitstein has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Upper Middle Rhine Valley.

[1]: 2  It is the northernmost point of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Upper Middle Rhine Valley.

At the foot of the hill, protected by the fortress, Philipp Christoph von Sötern had the palace Phillipsburg constructed in 1625–1629.

Successive Archbishops used the fortress' strategic importance to barter between contending powers; thus in 1672 at the outset of war between France and Germany the Archbishop refused requests both from the envoys of Louis XIV and from Brandenburg's Ambassador, Christoph Caspar von Blumenthal, to permit the passage of troops across the Rhine.

But a one-year siege, starting in 1798 during the War of the Second Coalition, brought starvation to the defenders of Ehrenbreitstein who finally handed over the fortress to French troops in 1799.

Hence, they blew up Ehrenbreitstein in 1801[1]: 2, 17  to prevent the enemy from taking hold of a fully functional fortress just a few meters away from French territory on the left bank of the Rhine.

[1]: 3  The American General Henry Tureman Allen, convinced of its historical value as a premier 19th-century fortress, prevented its intended destruction in 1922.

[4] During World War II, the fortress served as a place of safekeeping for archives and cultural objects (1943–56) but also harbored three flak guns (1943–1945).

In 2011, Festung Ehrenbreitstein was part of the Bundesgartenschau (National Garden Show) in Koblenz, following a multi-year restoration in 2007–2011.

There is also a Haus des Genusses, celebrating regional wine making and offering a Baroque dining experience.

[6] In 1822, the English translation of the castle's name, The Broad-Stone of Honour, was used as the title of Kenelm Henry Digby's exhaustive work on chivalry.

(Herman Melville, Pierre) Here Ehrenbreitstein, with her shattered wall Black with the miner's blast, upon her height Yet shows of what she was, when shell and ball Rebounding idly on her strength did light; A tower of victory!

from whence the flight Of baffled foes was watch'd along the plain: But Peace destroy'd what War could never blight, And laid those proud roofs bare to Summer's rain— On which the iron shower for years had pour'd in vain.

[7] Turner also painted a series of watercolors depicting views of the fortress and environs, some of which are held by the Tate Gallery in London.

[8] In 1897, a monument to Emperor Wilhelm I was erected right below the Festung, but on the west side of the Rhine, known as the Deutsches Eck (German Corner).