Brandenbourg Castle

About this place

Brandenbourg Castle is a ruin on a promontory some 70 m above a small village in northeast Luxembourg. It overlooks the crossing of two old routes, one from the River Sûre up into the Ardennes and the other from Bourscheid to Vianden, and it sees fewer crowds than the country's big castles. Excavations show a wooden fort here in the 9th and 10th centuries, while the first stone buildings date from the 13th. A chapel was added in the 14th century, and under the House of Salm in the 15th and 16th centuries it gained a bailey, two towers, vaulted cellars and curtain walls. The French destroyed the outer walls around 1687, it was inhabited until the mid-18th century and then abandoned, and a 1997 lease lets the State look after it. You pass through an arched stone gate into a green site measuring 35 by 95 m, centred on the remains of the keep, now 11.9 m high, which once had four floors, three of which survive. You find slate-stone walls and open vaults, with views from above over the wooded valley and village roofs. In winter snow covers the ruins and makes the plan clear. The castle lies about 5.6 km from Vianden and 33.5 km from Luxembourg City in a straight line. The climb from the village is steep and the ground uneven, so wear sturdy shoes. Do not climb the walls, and avoid dark vaults without a torch.