Greif cannon

The Trier elector and archbishop Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads had Master Simon from Frankfurt am Main pour the cannon in 1524 and set it up on the Ehrenbreitstein fortress.

After the conquest of the Ehrenbreitstein by the French in 1799 during the coalition wars, the cannon on the Moselle was brought to the Arsenal there in Metz.

Since the French feared the fall of the city, they buried the Griffin in the ground or sank it in the Seille.

As part of the Franco-German reconciliation, French President François Mitterrand signed in 1984 with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl an agreement for permanently lending it to the fortress Ehrenbreitstein.

The Griffin was allegedly never used due to a closed ignition hole but this was refuted after finding four bullets and black powder residue in the cannon.