Ehrenbreitstein Fortress

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress
Festung Ehrenbreitstein
Festung Ehrenbreitstein viewed from Koblenz (2011)
General information
Type	Fortress
Town or city	Koblenz
Country	Germany
Coordinates	50°21′54″N 7°36′54″E / 50.365°N 7.615°E / 50.365; 7.615

Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (German: Festung Ehrenbreitstein) is a fortress on the mountain of the same name on the east bank of the Rhine opposite the town of Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Occupying the position of an earlier fortress destroyed by the French in 1801, it was built as the backbone of the regional fortification system, Festung Koblenz, by Prussia between 1817 and 1828 and guarded the middle Rhine region, an area that had been invaded by French troops repeatedly before. The Prussian fortress was never attacked.

Since 2002, Ehrenbreitstein has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Upper Middle Rhine Valley.

Ehrenbreitstein is located on the eastern bank of the Rhine at Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It overlooks the confluence of the Mosel and the Rhine. The peak of the hill is 118 metres above the Rhine. It is the northernmost point of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Upper Middle Rhine Valley.

Ehrenbreitstein, the hill on which the eponymous fortress is now located, was first settled in the 4th millennium BC, fortifications were built in the 10th/9th century BC. In the 3rd to 5th centuries AD a Roman fortification was sited there. More settlement followed in the 8th/9th centuries under the Carolingian dynasty.

In about 1000 Ehrenbert erected a castle on the hill. Its initial name "Burg Ehrenbertstein" later became Burg Ehrenbreitstein.

The castle was first mentioned in an extant written document in 1139, as a property of the Archbishop of Trier. Archbishop Hillin expanded it in 1152-69. A supporting castle was built on the hill known as Helfenstein to the south ( Burg Helferstein ).