Location: Rhineland
Burg Maus Castle is a medieval citadel located on the right side
of the river. The construction began in 1356 by Archbishop-
Elector of Trier Bohemond II and lasted for 30 years. Its
strange name that comes from a German for “mouse” came from a
nickname that was given by the counts of Katzenelnbogen who
found the castle Katz (German for “cat”) and castle Rheinfels
across the river. The castle was intended to secure the lands of
Trier against this family. In fact it one of the best fortified
fortresses in the valley. Through its long and turbulent history
it was never captured despite numerous attacks and sieges.
Eventually it fell in disrepair in the 16th century due to lack
of necessity and ever changing military tactics. The castle was
repaired between 1900 and 1906 by architect Wilhelm Gartner with
great attention to restore its original appearance.
Today the castle is privately owned and it is not accessible to
the public. The castle walls and tower hosts aviary that is home
to falcons, eagles and owls. Birds are demonstrated between late
March and early October. It is one of the last places in Europe
that practices this old tradition.
The castle was planned and started from 1353 to 1357 by Archbishop
Boemund II of Trier under the name St. Peterseck and completed under his
successors Kuno II von Falkenstein and Werner von Falkenstein (1362 to
1388). It temporarily served as a residence for the latter two church
princes. Originally, another electoral Trier castle called St.
Petersberg was to be built nearby in order to oppose the two
Katzenelnbogische castles Neukatzenelnbogen (Castle Katz) and Rheinfels.
In the end, however, the sole construction of Peterseck Castle remained.
The castle was nicknamed Maus by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, who
in the meantime had built the larger castle Neukatzenelnbogen -
popularly known as Castle Katz - and probably by the inhabitants of the
area, which has been handed down for the first time since 1744. In
addition to Peterseck, the castle was also called Thurnberg Castle or
Deuernburg (Deuernberg Castle). Never destroyed, it only fell into
disrepair from the 18th century. In 1806 it was sold to Friedrich Gustav
Habel, who wanted to keep the castle.
The writer Victor Hugo
dedicated a separate chapter to the castle in his book Rheinreise 1840.
The castle was rebuilt between 1900 and 1906 under the architect
Wilhelm Gärtner, who largely preserved the external appearance. Until
the end of 2010, an eagle and falcon farm was housed in Maus Castle for
decades.
The almost square core castle, built from the quarry stone excavated
on site, encloses the inner courtyard with the residential tower
attached to the west and the Palas to the south. Palas, inner courtyard
and north building (now in ruins) divide the main castle into three
sections. On the eastern side of the main attack, the 33-metre-high and
eight-metre-diameter round keep protrudes, half projecting out of the
ten-metre-high shield wall on both sides, with a southeastern square and
a northern octagonal corner tower. The keep has only four window slits
in the defense platform, which received an additional attachment in
1924. Today, the tower is accessible via the battlement (at that time
only via a retractable wooden ladder), which surrounds the castle on all
sides under the roof on a projecting round arch frieze with basalt
consoles, and was formerly equipped with rectangular hatches that could
probably be closed with wooden shutters instead of battlements.
In the west of the complex is the electoral residential tower, which
originally only had half the floor space in the south for one room per
floor. It was erected with the castle under Archbishop Boemund II as a
four-storey residential tower measuring 7 by 8.5 meters. Between 1362
and 1388, an extension of roughly the same size was added to the north
under Kuno von Falkenstein. While the first building had one room on
each of its main floors, where the archbishop's chamber was probably
also on the first floor, each room was now almost the same size. Both
rooms on one floor were heated by a fireplace; However, while the older
southern room had two-row windows on two sides, the younger one was only
single-row, but also had a toilet tower on the north side. Here now lay
the manorial bedroom. The larger residential tower now represented a
modern archbishop's domicile with an apartment consisting of two rooms
per floor. It initially had four, now only two, projecting, round corner
towers with a polygonal end at the level of the weir plate.
The
southern third of the castle complex is dominated by the two-storey
palace with a narrow castle chapel on the upper floor. In the northern
part, opposite the Palas, there was a farm building that is now in
ruins. Up until the 17th century, the castle buildings had steep, slated
hipped roofs, and the keep had a conical roof, as can be seen in an
engraving by Matthäus Merian. In addition, the outer walls were, as was
customary at the time, plastered in light colors (see Marksburg).
The castle was also protected by a surrounding ward, which protruded
sharply towards the attack side and surrounded the lower courtyard
there, and the steep, deep moat cut into the rock. Access led past the
neck moat and along the castle path on the north side over a drawbridge
that no longer exists into the gatehouse to the west of the residential
tower.
All parts of the building could be heated, and large
seating niches - real window sills - were embedded in the walls of the
Palas windows.