Burg Wilhelmstein

Burg Wilhelmstein stands in the valley of the River Wurm on its eastern bank, near the Würselen district of Bardenberg in the Städteregion Aachen. It is the ruined remains of a lowland castle built with rubble-stone walls and defensive bastions as a place of refuge. In times of war or unrest the people from nearby farms and Bardenberg village could take shelter inside its walls. The castle’s ruins include a forecourt once protected by a moat, with a round tower and a Gothic archway. The main keep, once five storeys high, stood beside the great hall. The round tower served as the castle prison, and traces of the drawbridge chain can still be seen today. Every year from May to September the site hosts open-air concerts, cabaret and film shows on its open-air stage. The castle was built between 1265 and 1269 by Count Wilhelm IV of Jülich on the site of an earlier border fort. It became the seat of the Jülich district of Wilhelmstein, which covered more than twenty villages. In 1690–91 French troops under Louis XIV laid waste to the castle during their raids through the Rhineland. Later, in the War of Spanish Succession, the building suffered further damage.