Gemünden Castle

Gemünden Castle is a castle complex in the Hunsrück region in the town of Gemünden. The castle is located at an altitude of approximately 315 meters above sea level on a ridge about 30 meters high above the town of Gemünden in the Simmerbach valley. It shapes the appearance of the small municipality of Gemünden. The castle is located on the northern edge of the Soonwald forest, 10 kilometers (km) south of the district town of Simmern and 50 km south of Koblenz. Mainz is 55 km east and Kirn is 12 km south (all distances as the crow flies).

In place of the current castle stood a medieval fortress, first mentioned in 1301, but likely of older origin. The complex was initially owned by the Counts of Sponheim, who enfeoffed it to the Lords of Koppenstein or Schenk von Schmidtburg. In 1514, the Schenk von Schmidtburg family bought the complex from the Sponheim heirs. During the War of the Palatine Succession in 1689, the fortress was largely destroyed by French occupation troops under Louis XIV. The current castle was rebuilt on the foundations of the fortress between 1718 and 1728. The last Schmidtburg heiress married the Austrian captain Johann Anton v. Salis-Soglio from Graubünden in 1815, who was entered into the Prussian nobility register as a Freiherr in 1827, bringing the castle to this family, who still inhabit it today. Koppenstein Castle also belongs to their possessions.