Böhmische Burg Astheim

The Böhmische Burg Astheim once stood on the east bank of the Ginsheimer Altrhein, an old Rhine channel between Trebur and Ginsheim. Built in the 14th century by order of Emperor Charles IV, it served as a customs post and protected imperial lands near Frankfurt. The site lay on Astheim land called Langwörth, with meadows stretching east to the Schwarzbach. The fortress was a solid tower with a moat, raised by Heinz zum Jungen, imperial sheriff of Oppenheim, in about 1370. By the early 15th century Mainz’s archbishops held it as a pledge, and by the mid-15th century it was already ruined. In 1657 Johann Christian Freiherr von Boineburg bought the site, later described as crumbling walls in the river. Today only a low stone ramp and traces of a ring ditch appear when the water level falls. The meadows once belonging to the castle still bear names like Die große Engelswiese and Der Engelsand. Visitors can walk the riverside paths and imagine the vanished tower rising above the old Rhine arm.