Burresheim Burg
Check out the video below!
This castle is really more like two castles in one. Here we learned the “burg” is typically a castle meant more for protection, while “schloss” castles are typically more decorative and meant to show wealth and status. For these reasons, “burg” castles tend to have much thicker walls.
The entrance to this castle was interesting, as it took you through a gate and then somewhat under the castle, but some fortified walls, before coming up from below into the central courtyard. The castle courtyard was cool because you were standing in the middle of the castle, and all around you the rooms of the castle can look down towards you.
We got a castle tour here, and found out that the castle was never destroyed or harmed during the wars, so everything about it is original. It is also special because this castle was used as the filming location for the movie “Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade”. The scene where Indiana’s father is being held captive by Nazis was filmed in this castle. How cool!!! We will have to rewatch the movie and see if we recognize it this time.
The castle consists of the Cologne section which is now in ruins, and the Trier section which is what is still standing. There are two sections in the courtyard that have been restored from the 1700’s, such as an outdoor kitchen and a water fountain for horses. The outdoor kitchen was used during the summers.
Starting off our tour, we entered the welcoming hall of the castle, which housed many different portraits. They also had a side saddle for horse riding and military uniforms. Then there was a hallway filled with the antler trophies of hunted animals. It was kind of creepy, to be honest. Bürresheim castle was used as a hunting castle.
Eventually we entered the riding hall, which had two large tapestries depicting Roman times. In this room was a central oak pillar that supported the weight of the building, which dated from the 1400’s. This room was also used for witch trials. A total of 43 trials occurred here, with two of the trials resulting poorly. During the trials, the accused would be confined in a steel trap and be forced to wear a metal mask, signaling their sins. People wearing these masks would often have stones thrown at them by the townspeople. Not fun times for sure…
The adjacent room housed the priest for the castle, and since he was the only one that could read and write he also fulfilled the role of teaching the children. In this room was also a giant 3D globe of the earth. Again, the priests were considered scholars.
The following room was the bedroom, where an old fashioned bed warmer was on display. This worked by putting hot coals from a fire into typically a copper or other conductive metal container, which was then placed under the mattress. It would then radiate the heat into the mattress for keeping warm. The bed was from the 1800’s, and hanging above the bed was a cute little shelf where people could hang up their sleeping caps. There was also a toilet, which was really just a hole that emptied into the river for the water to sweep away waste. Gross…but I guess it was effective.
After the bedroom came the winter kitchen. It was a huge room, and the best one in the house because it ultimately had the most weight supporting pillar of the castle. That oak beam has supported the weight of the castle for over 800 years, and has been pressed so much by that weight for so long, that it has taken on the appearance and feel of stone, despite being oak. They also still had the original tiles from the 1400’s on the outskirts of the kitchen floor, but the tile in the middle of the room dated from the 1900’s. Food was usually cooked in large cauldrons over a fire or heat source. The cauldrons would hang from a special hook with grooves in the side, on the hook could be lowered or raised on those hooks to set in closer or further from the heat source, allowing the people to control the rate of cooking.
Bürresheim was a unique castle. It is quite historic, and I feel like I learned little tidbits of information that did not come with typical castle tours. I also like the fact that Indiana Jones was filmed here!
Our tour was in German, but they had a paper for English clarifications, and the tour guide also spoke English.