The Castles of the Rhine: Recreating the Middle Ages in Modern Germany

by Robert R. Taylor

Overview

Far from being mere antiquarian or sentimental curiosities, the rebuilt or reused fortresses of the Rhine reflect major changes in Germany and Europe during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Taylor begins The Castles of the Rhine with a synopsis of the major political, social and intellectual changes that influenced castle rebuilding in the nineteenth century. He then focuses on selected castles, describing their turbulent histories from the time of their original construction, through their destruction or decay, to their rediscovery in the 1800s and their continued preservation today.

Reading this book is equivalent to looking at history though a romantic-nationalist kaleidoscope. Amply illustrated with maps and photographs, The Castles of the Rhine is a wonderful companion for anyone with dreams or experience of journeying along the Rhine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780889203150
Publisher:	Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Publication date:	04/30/1998
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	407
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Robert R. Taylor is a professor of history at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, where he has been active in the architecture conservation movement. He is the author of The Word in Stone: The Role of Architecture in the National Socialist Ideology and Hohenzollern Berlin: Construction and Reconstruction.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents for
The Castles of the Rhine: Recreating the Middle Ages in Modern Germany by Robert R. Taylor

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Part One: Foundations

Political and Economic Power on the Middle Rhine

Romanticism and Nationalism on the Middle Rhine

Monuments and Documents on the Middle Rhine

Part Two: Vindicating the Old Regime

The Holy Alliance in Stone

Hohenzollern Dreams

King of the Rhineland

The Hohenzollerns at the Hunt

The “Cartridge Prince” and His Consort

Part Three: Buttressing the Status Quo

A Justification of Aristocratic Privilege

The Fulfilment of Bourgeois Ambition

Part Four: Defending the Reich

Symbols of German Unity

Monument to German Glory

Part Five: Securing the Past for the Future

To Entertain, Enlighten, and Exploit the Traveller

To Study the German Past

To Teach the Young and the Ignorant

Part Six: Conclusion

“Can Stones Speak?”

Appendices

Glossary of Architectural Terms Used

Medieval Fantasies

Hohenzollern Castle Projects Outside the Rhineland

Notes

Select Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Scholars as well as castle fanatics will enjoy this study of castle restoration (and pseudo-castle construction) between the 1820s and the 1930s. Sections cover changes in political, economic, cultural, intellectual, and technological history which altered the fate of the Rhenish castle ruins in the 19th century; the efforts of the ruling elites to create architectural propaganda; nationalism and the birth of the modern heritage conservation movement; and the relevance of the German castle rebuilding movement for North Americans. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

''[W]hen studying the great German river [the Rhine], one can escape neither poetry nor politics. The need to assert and defend political power created the original Rhenish castles [and] ... much later ... when these fortresses had fallen into ruin and lost all apparent political or military value, nineteenth-century poets were enraptured by the landscape and mythology of both the Rhine and its wrecked citadels.''

from the author's Introduction