Maus Castle

Maus Castle (German: Burg Maus, meaning Mouse Castle) is a castle above the village of Wellmich (part of Sankt Goarshausen) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It lies on the east side of the Rhine, north of Katz Castle (Cat Castle) in Sankt Goarshausen and opposite Rheinfels Castle at Sankt Goar across the river.

Construction of the castle was begun in 1356 by Archbishop-Elector of Trier Bohemond II and was continued for the next 30 years by successive Electors of Trier. The construction of Burg Maus was to enforce Trier's recently acquired Rhine River toll rights and to secure Trier's borders against the Counts of Katzenelnbogen (who had built Burg Katz and Burg Rheinfels). In the latter half of the 14th century Burg Maus was one of the residences of the Elector of Trier.

Unlike its two neighbouring castles, Burg Maus was never destroyed, though it fell into disrepair in the 16th and 17th centuries. Restoration of the castle was undertaken between 1900 and 1906 under the architect Wilhelm Gärtner with attention to historical detail.

The castle suffered further damage from shelling during World War II which has since been repaired. Today Burg Maus hosts an aviary that is home to falcons, owls and eagles, and flight demonstrations are staged for visitors from late March to early October.

The ward of the castle contains two residential buildings. The vulnerable side facing uphill is guarded by a round bergfried.

Local folklore attributes the name to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen's mocking of the Electors of Trier during the 30 years of construction, who reportedly said that the castle was the "mouse" that would be eaten by the "cat" of Burg Katz. The originally intended name was Burg Peterseck (or St. Peterseck). A matched castle on the left bank (to control the bank north of Burg Rheinfels) that was to be named Burg Peterberg was never constructed. Other names by which Burg Maus is known are Thurnberg (or Thurmberg) and Deuernburg.

Text adapted from “Maus Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Maus Castle ranks #1,442 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #110 of the 492 mapped in Germany. Founded 1353, it is older than 57% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 582 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,216 times in the last 60 days, more than 76% of the atlas. 28 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Koblenz, 22 km away. It is one of the 33 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Middle Rhine. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗