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Gemünden in the Hunsrück
When a hiker comes from Bad Sobernheim through the Entenpfuhl State
Forest, passes by Trifthütte (a pasture hut and restaurant) and
Alteburg Mountain, and arrives at the main ridge of the Soon
forest, they are suddenly met with a breathtaking view over the
Hunsrück plateau and down into the Simmerbach valley. In the valley
below lies the little town of Gemünden with its numerous 17th and 18th
Century half-timbered houses, which are worth seeing. A four-turreted
castle towers above Gemünden, standing high above the houses on a rocky
plateau. The four mighty turrets with their bulbous spires
give the Baroque castle quite a distinctive and unique character.
With good reason, Gemünden is called "the pearl of Hunsrück", with a
city charter that dates from 1330. Between 1514 and 1540, the Lords of
Schmidtburg Castle
near
Bundenbach
in Hahnenbach Valley purchased the
entire town, including its castle from the 12th Century, as part of the
Sponheim legacy. A short time later, the center of Castle Gemünden
arose in its present-day form. After being destroyed by French troops
in the year 1689, its reconstruction took place between 1718 and 1724.
A hundred years later, in the year 1815, the castle came into the
possession of the baronial family of Salis-Soglio through the marriage
of the last heir to Captain Anton von Salis-Soglio from the canton
of Graubünden in Switzerland.
Photo: The small town of Gemünden in the Simmerbach Valley
("Pearl of Hunsrück") is dominated by a four-towered castle, which is built
on a rock plateau high above the houses. From here on the Simmerbach in
the foreground is now called Kellenbach.
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