Vianden Castle (Luxembourg)

The castle became the symbol of the misfortunes and sufferings of the city of Vianden. Nassau dynasty, which inherited the county in the 15th century, regarded only as a minor possession. The counts have not lived in the castle and managed the county through bailiffs. This was the beginning of the decline of the city, a decline accelerated by the abolition of the county of Vianden in 1794, for the delivery of 42 villages of the former county of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and the introduction of tariff barriers between Vianden and these villages after Luxembourg had left the German "Zollverein" in 1918.
The French troops, who had occupied Luxembourg in 1794, abolished the county, the land of which belonged in turn to Napoleon I, his brother Louis Bonaparte and his de Marbeuf general.

In 1815 the Congress of Vienna gave the main part of the former county to Prussia and returned the rest of William I of Orange Nassau, the king of the Netherlands and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, which in 1820 had no qualms about selling castle to the highest bidder. The fine castle was then bought for the sum of 3,200 florins from Vianden merchant Wenceslas Coster, who quickly dismantled and sold off in small pieces - tiles, paneling, iron, masonry, doors, windows, etc. He himself moved the ladder d ' entrance, some furniture and panels to his house in the lower town. This house dates back to 1475 and became the chemist-shop.

William I tried to calm the anger of the inhabitants of Vianden by re-acquisition of what was left of the castle for the sum of 1100 florins. The reconstruction began in 1851 with the restoration of the castle chapel. Today the castle belongs to the Luxembourg Government, which restored the manorial seat since 1977. The stately renovated rooms of the castle are alive with exhibitions of ancient weapons and armor, precious furniture and goblins, of genealogical tables and portraits, of archaeological finds and drawings .