Blankenberg Castle

Blankenberg Castle is a castle ruin on a 152-meter high mountain ridge above the Sieg loop in the district of Stadt Blankenberg, part of the city of Hennef, North Rhine-Westphalia.

The hilltop castle was probably built between 1150 and 1180.

In 1152, the Counts of Sayn, two brothers Eberhard I and Heinrich I, transferred the castle and the Sayn estate near Bendorf to the Archbishop of Trier, after the Archbishop of Cologne Arnold II had besieged and destroyed them, and resided in Blankenberg. After they remained militarily quiet, Arnold II let them be.

In 1363, the castle with the town and the surrounding area passed to the Counts and later Dukes of Berg.

During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was conquered by Swedish troops and occupied for several years. Later, the castle was partially razed to no longer offer a worthwhile target to other warlords.

In 1829, Major Friedrich Wilhelm von Delitz acquired the Blankenberg castle hill with the ruin and parts of the old town to operate a vineyard there. In 1913, the property was sold to the manufacturer Richard Grüneberg.

Today, the castle complex with four towers and city wall still presents the image of a compact castle complex.