Schwalbach Castle

Schwalbach Castle is a late medieval hilltop castle in the town of Burgschwalbach in the Rhein-Lahn district in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The castle was built starting in 1368 by Count Eberhard V of Katzenelnbogen to secure the northeastern border of his territory. However, the reported completion date of 1371 is considered unlikely due to the seemingly much too short construction period. The surrounding settlement must have existed before the castle, because also in 1368, Emperor Charles IV granted it town rights, which was associated with permission to build fortifications and to hold a weekly market on a service day. Nevertheless, the settlement did not develop into a city and was referred to as a "Flecken" (small town) until the 18th century.

In 1536, the castle fell to the House of Nassau. After an inheritance division, Count Wilhelm of Nassau-Weilburg received Burgschwalbach in 1594, as well as the administrative district managed from there. He made the castle his residence. His widow Erika used the castle as her dower house until 1628 and had parts of the complex repaired. Until 1720, the building housed a Nassau-Weilburg office.

By 1737, repairs would have been necessary again. Given the high costs, the administration of Nassau-Usingen, to which Burgschwalbach now belonged, decided to let the castle fall into disrepair. Inventory, wooden components, and the roof were therefore auctioned off and removed.

In 1817, master carpenter Georg Philipp Schnabel bought the gatehouse. His family opened a restaurant in the castle in 1858. A restaurant still exists there today.

After battlements broke out of the curtain wall in 2006, the structure was initially scaffolded to allow for safety measures and investigations. The castle has been undergoing renovation since 2010.