The Alte Burg in Longuich preserves local traditions with religiosity, and offers hospitality fit for a knight.
How would you like to dine among knights and troubadours, fair maidens and squires? For those of you who travel to the charming Mosel Valley, the German equivalent to Napa Valley, but without the Tuscan flair, Longuich is a destination as appealing as any. But what Longuich has, that other cobbled towns and villages of the Valley don’t, is a true knight’s castle turned hotel and restaurant.
The building is no longer as tall and imposing as it once stood. Its gracious tower, upper floors and fortifications are gone. Yet, as you approach the entrance, you can still feel the presence of the knights who once roamed these lands.
What you see is the legacy of Gerhard Plate, the knight who built upon an already existing structure, first mentioned in 1360, but later dilapidated, and created a Gothic marvel of sorts. When he finished it, in 1496, there was no other castle like it in Longuich. Even in its present form, the building is unique, awe-inspiring, and magnificent, considering its location among contemporary German houses, all so simple, vernacular edifices.
Like any other burg, Gerhard Plate’s has a history of disputes among knights, division, transfer of ownership and so on. For a brief period, the castle was even owned by the Abbey of St. Maximin in Trier, but with the secularization of 1802, the Roman Catholic Church lost its constitutional role in Germany, and many of its buildings were repossessed. These events bring us closer to the birth of the hotel, but it would take till 1976 for things to take shape.
The Mertes family, who currently owns the castle and several other buildings around, bought the burg in 1812. For six generations today, they dedicated their lives to preserving its legacy, and promoting its history and past traditions. No other Mertes before was as committed and successful as Franz-Josef, who envisioned a series of thematic dinners that attract large groups of people every Friday in the historic Rittersaal (Knight’s Hall) for a genuine Knight’s Feast, among maidens, troubadours, and squires.
