Kyrburg Castle

The Kyrburg, also known as Kirburg, is the ruin of a hilltop castle between the Nahe Valley and the Hahnenbach Valley high above the town of Kirn in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate and is the landmark of the town.

In 1128, the castle was first mentioned in a document by Count "Emich de Kirberc".

The castle was one of the ancestral castles of the Wildgraves (successors of the Emichones). By the end of the 13th century, the Wildgraves had split into several lines, one of which named itself after the Kyrburg. In 1409, the Rheingraves acquired possession through marriage.

Occupied by the Spanish, Swedes, and imperial troops during the Thirty Years' War, it fell into the hands of the French in 1681. Eight years later, a renewal of the fortifications was initiated. In 1734, the fortress, again under French occupation, was blown up during the War of the Polish Succession. The castle ruin subsequently served the people of Kirn as a quarry. In 1764, Prince Johann Dominik had the garrison house built, which today houses the Kyrburg restaurant and, in the cellar, the famous Whisky Museum.

In 1908, the castle complex came into the possession of the Princes of Salm-Salm; since 1988, it has been owned by the city of Kirn.