Metternich Castle

Metternich Castle (also Heppinger Hof) is a castle in Heppingen, a district of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in the Ahrweiler district (Rhineland-Palatinate). The castle is a cultural monument worthy of protection.

The castle, located at Burgstraße 30 in Heppingen, is inhabited by the imperial count branch of the widespread Wolff-Metternich family. This branch has its ancestral seat at Gracht Castle in Liblar.

Metternich Castle in Heppingen was purchased by Franz Josef Wolff-Metternich in 1736 and has only served as the family's residence since 1920, when Josef Wolff-Metternich moved in. He was the founder of the company Eifelfango Chemisch-Pharmazeutische Werke in Bad Neuenahr.

The castle, originally a moated castle of the Counts of Manderscheid-Blankenheim (first mentioned in 1617), was built at the beginning of the 18th century as a two-story baroque building with a hip roof. Only a few decorative elements such as window sills, the ornate portal, and the roof cornice give the castle a stately appearance. The eight-axis building has a small gable above the portal with an oval window in the gable field. The later addition of one axis on the left and two axes on the right accounts for the asymmetry.