Vianden Castle

[1] In about 1000, the first medieval stone castle was built on the land and contained a watch tower with a surrounding oval wall as defense.

An excavation in 1994 led to unearthing the late Antiquity Tower from the Merovingian period, it was dated by the analyzing the wood scaffolding found on site.

[6] At the beginning of the 13th century, a new two-storey palace measuring 10 by 13 metres (33 by 43 ft) was built with a sumptuous gallery connecting it to the chapel.

The last great change took place in the middle of the 13th century when the entire castle was adapted to reflect the Gothic style.

[4] Finally, in 1621 the Nassau Mansion with its banqueting hall and bedroom was built by Prince Maurice of Orange-Nassau-Vianden in the Renaissance style replacing a damaged side wing of the 11th century keep.

As a result, Philip confiscated the castle and conferred it on Peter Ernst von Mansfeld, the governor of Luxembourg.

[5] Such was the indignation of his subjects at the mistreatment of the castle that in 1827 the king, himself a count of Vianden, repurchased the ruin for 1,100 florins hoping to begin restoration work.

Unfortunately, his time was taken up with the Belgian Revolution of 1830 and it was not until 1851 that Prince Henry of the Netherlands reconstructed the chapel at his own expense, giving it a lower roof.

When Adolphe of Nassau-Weilbourg became Grand Duke of Luxembourg in 1890, he charged Bobo Ebhardt, a German specialist, with further restoration.

[4] During the Second World War, in the Battle of Vianden which took place on November 19, 1944, the castle was ably defended against the Waffen-SS by members of the Luxembourg Resistance against the Nazi occupation, and proved to have some military value even under conditions of modern warfare.

In 1979, the chapel was also given a new roof and restored to reflect its original Gothic appearance, which had been lost during the fire of 1667 caused by lightning.

The Banqueting Hall includes a fireplace dated to 1450 that is ornamented with the coat of arms and the family crest of Nassu/von Lootz.