Germany · 13th century
Burg Gemen ranks #5,384 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #461 of the 714 mapped in Germany. Founded c. 1300, it is older than 60% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 1091 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,146 times in the last 60 days, more than 54% of the atlas. 4 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Enschede, 40 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.
Burg Gemen stands in the Münsterland parkland in the former marsh area of the Bocholter Aa. Even if the name suggests otherwise, the complex is today a Schloss. Its former Schlossfreiheit gave its name to Gemen, today a district of Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Schloss arose from the gradual rebuilding of a more than 900-year-old moated castle built by the noble lords of Gemen, one of the most influential Westphalian noble families of its time. It stands on two islands surrounded by an extensive system of moats. The castle was the centre of the lordship of Gemen.
Since 1946 the diocese of Münster has used the castle as a youth education centre.
Machine-translated from “Burg Gemen” on the German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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