Thurant castle is thus far one of the best castles we’ve found for a more interactive experience. It was built around 1206, occupied by archbishops, and even divided between the Trier and Cologne archbishops. They divided the castle in half and each kept their own tower, which are appropriately named today- the Trier Tower and the Cologne Tower. The castle fell to ruins in the mid 1500s and even more so as a result of the attacks of French troops in the Thirty-Years’ war.
It was left abandoned for some times where it continued to fall into ruin, but has since been purchased by a the Allmers family in 1911, who has started to have it rebuilt to match its period. There is even a guesthouse that can be rented out for a few days at a time.
At the gate of the castle is a bell, which they are happy to let you ring. It’s a simple bell, not a big gong. I was so nervous to ring it because it would get everyone’s attention, just to find out it was a tiny little sound.
On the inside of the castle is a medium sized garden, decorated with leftover, moss covered stone balls that were used by catapults back in the day. There was even an old and somewhat faded sundial in the garden.
This castle felt more interactive because after paying a few euros to get in, you just had free range to explore as you saw fit. They had no problem with use filming, which many castles tend to not like. They had various rooms that you could explore as well. One such room was a wine cellar, filled with many different wine bottles, barrels, and presses. Above the wine cellar was a decent sized chapel. It was very pretty, but especially cool to me was the blue star-covered painting on the ceiling of the chapel.
I’m not sure if the stable was destroyed at some point, but in 2003 it was rebuilt to its original appearance, and it looks as if horses just recently left. It looked so realistic! There were even staircases or metal boxes that the horse riders would use to mount their horses. Since they would be wearing metal armor, they would be too heavy to just climb onto the horse, so they needed special help mounting.
The castle had a small cafe where you could grab a small bite to eat as well. It was nice because you could sit anywhere in the grounds and enjoy your food. Castles are really cool to see, but sometimes because of their restrictions for maintaining history they can feel a little stiff, so it was fun to explore the remnants of a castle in a bit more carefree fashion. So this is definitely a castle to visit if you want a more independent and explorative experience. It gets a thumbs up from us!
Check out the video we made of Thurant castle below!