Oberwesel town walls

The historical town walls in Oberwesel are some of the best preserved perimeter walls in the Middle Rhine and a piece of history you can actually walk on.

Welcome to Oberwesel town walls

The town wall of Oberwesel with its 16 defense towers is the best preserved rampart on the Middle Rhine. For many years, this medieval fortification has been developed for tourism. Therefore, it is now possible for citizens and tourists to walk over large parts of the city wall. The way over the wall can become an exciting journey into the past. Painters and poets have always been fascinated by the townscape of Oberwesel, which is characterized by two collegiate churches and the town wall with its gates and towers. To prove this, just a few lines from the travel diary of the French romantic Victor Hugo are quoted: "Oberwesel is particularly marked by the wars of the Middle Ages. The old town wall is riddled with cannon and rifle bullets. The impacts of the heavy iron balls of the Archbishops of Trier, the bullets of the muskets of Louis XIV and the cartouches of our revolutionary troops can be deciphered on it as on an old parchment. But today Oberwesel resembles an old soldier who became a vintner. Its red wine is excellent. " However, the city wall fascinates not only tourists and artists, but also historians. It has long been the object of research of many specialist scientists. As early as 1922, Prof. Dr. Renard came to the conclusion that "of all the Middle Rhine city defenses, that of Oberwesel is the most extensive, proudest and best preserved." The State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate wrote in an expert report: "The town fortification of Oberwesel is largely preserved in its medieval inventory; it is one of the most important and best-preserved medieval town fortifications in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is an essential element of the historical heritage which has made the Middle Rhine Valley a UNESCO World Heritage Site."

Source: DataHub Rheinland-Pfalz