Buildings The following are listed buildings or sites in
Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments: monumental zone
Oberwesel (main centre) •
Evangelical church, beside Chablis-Straße 21 –
Gothic Revival brick building, 1897–1899 •
Catholic Parish Church of Our Lady (
Pfarrkirche Liebfrauen), Liebfrauenstraße 1 (
see also below) – one-naved
aisleless church with five-eighths quire and
ridge turret, latter half of the 14th century; appointments: pulpit, 1619; tomb slabs, 16th and 17th centuries;
cloister and vicarage, standing in the south wing, 14th and 15th centuries; various gravestones, 15th to 17th century; at the northeast corner a vicarage, plastered
timber-frame house in mixed building styles, crosswise gable, 18th century; graveyard,
Late Gothic Crucifixion, 16th century; various gravestones, 19th century; whole complex of buildings with church, cloister with vicarage and graveyard with Saint Michael's Chapel • Saint Martin's Catholic Parish Church (
Pfarrkirche St. Martin), Martinsberg 2 (
see also below) – transeptless two-naved basilica; sacristy, about 1300, nave and tower about 1350 to mid 15th century, side nave rebuilt about 1700 after destruction; rectory (Martinsberg 1): two-wing building, timber-frame, 18th century, essentially mediaeval, alterations and expansion in the 19th and 20th centuries; garden with
Romanesque baptismal font; graveyard with Fátima Chapel, tomb, churchyard wall; former sexton's hut, jettying, partly solid, earlier half of the 17th century, one-floor timber-frame shed, marked 1625; whole complex of buildings • Town centre (monumental zone) – widely preserved town appearance, the two churches,
Liebfrauen and
St. Martin; almost the whole of the town fortifications preserved with 16 (of formerly 21) towers; characteristic town construction arrangement •
Schönburg (monumental zone) – originally an
Imperial castle, in 1149 owned by Hermann von Stahleck, until 1166 by Magdeburg,
Burggraf (“castle count”) and
Vögte were the Imperial
ministeriales of Schönburg, 1166
Imperial immediacy, 1216 to Magdeburg once again, by the 14th century at the latest a castle shared by more than one family, 1374 held as
fief by Archbishop Kuno of Trier, 1531 in bad structural state, 1689 laid waste, beginning in 1885 partial reconstruction by
T. J. Oakley Rhinelander (of, among other things, the lookout corner and the southern lodging), beginning in the 1950s built into a hotel (the area of the two southern
keeps and of the southern lodging) and into the House of the
Kolping Society (northern lodging and keep, gatetower); building beginning in the earlier half of the 12th century of the northern lodging now preserved as remnants; gatetower, marked 1141/1161; beginning in 1237 building of the southern half of the castle with the two round keeps, the southern lodging, the chapel and the moat; in the earlier half of the 14th century the
Hoher Mantel (protective wall), northern keep and bailey;
Haus Schönberg, timber-frame house, built in 1886 by Johann Kastor; gravesite of the family Osterroth; belonging with the castle: Schönburg estate upstream as well as the area of the “Elfenlay” between Schönburg and the town and the Church of Our Lady • Town wall (
see also below) – 16 towers and wall, great parts of which are preserved, shortly after 1200, partially raised in the earlier half of the 13th century, expansion in the latter half of the 13th century, walling of the outlying town of Niederburg in der ersten Hälfte of the 14th century, Ummauerung der Vorstadt Kirchhausen in the earlier half of the 15th century •
"Saint" Werner's Chapel, Wernerstraße (
see also below) – chapel with substructure, shortly before 1300 until the mid 14th century, repair after destruction about 1700; whole complex of buildings with
Wernerkrankenhaus (hospital) • Borngasse 2 – timber-frame house, partly solid, marked 1659, expansion possibly in the 18th century • Chablisstraße 2 – timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, marked 1708, conversion possibly in the earlier half of the 19th century • Chablisstraße 4 – timber-frame house, partly solid, marked 1586, shop built in, 1919 • Chablisstraße 5 – timber-frame house, partly solid, jettying, marked 1626, addition in the back marked 1754, conversion possibly in the 19th century • Chablisstraße 65 – former
Hertzners-Hollbachs Mühle (mill); timber-frame house, partly solid, early 18th century, window walling about 1600, possibly conversion marked 1719; one-floor commercial building, quarrystone, hipped
mansard roof; whole complex of buildings • Heumarkt 15 – timber-frame house, earlier half of the 18th century • Heumarkt 17 – timber-frame house, plastered, partly shingled, early 18th century • Holzgasse 4 – timber-frame house, partly solid, marked 1576 • Holzgasse 6 – timber-frame house, plastered, early 17th century • Kirchstraße 18 –
Classicist plastered building, earlier half of the 19th century • Kirchstraße 20 – two- or three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, latter half of the 15th century • Kirchstraße 39 – town school, so-called
Mädchenschule (“girls’ school”); nine-axis
sandstone building, marked 1907 • At Kirchstraße 52 – door with skylight, mid 18th century • Kirchstraße 55 –
Weißer Turm (“White Tower”) of the town wall • Koblenzer Straße 30 – former
House of Leyen estate; five-axis lordly quarrystone building, marked 1745, addition possibly in the 19th century • Koblenzer Straße 57 – plastered timber-frame house, earlier half of the 19th century • Liebfrauenstraße 9 – shophouse; brick building with plastered façade, about 1920/1930 • At Liebfrauenstraße 10 – door,
Rococo frames, latter half of the 18th century • Liebfrauenstraße 17 – villa; brick building on two-floor basement, 1890 • Liebfrauenstraße 29 – former Catholic school, so-called
Knabenschule (“boys’ school”); ten-axis building, building inspector F. Nebel,
Koblenz, 1865 interior conversion, 1886 conversion, 1965/1966 entrance moved and addition • Liebfrauenstraße 29 a-b – two shophouses, 1908/1909 • Liebfrauenstraße 33 – wine cellar building; Swiss style, about 1865, expansion 1927/1928, conversion marked 1930; secondhand cellar lintel, marked 1654 • Liebfrauenstraße 47 – timber-frame house plastered, possibly early 19th century, triaxial addition in the 19th century • Liebfrauenstraße 58 – brick building, late 19th century • Mainzer Straße – Prussian
milestone, obelisk, about 1820 • Mainzer Straße (no number) – railway station; reception building 1858/1859, renovation and lavatory building 1925, expansion 1907/1908 • Mainzer Straße 6 – winemaker's villa, about 1900 • Marktplatz 1 – timber-frame house, partly solid, middle third of the 18th century • Marktplatz 4 – timber-frame house, partly solid,
jettying, mid to late 17th century • Martinsberg (no number) – Catholic youth home; one- or two-floor plastered building, 1923–1925 • Martinsberg 3 – former sexton's hut of Saint Martin's Church; timber-frame house in mixed building styles, earlier half of the 17th century • Oberstraße 1 – brick building with knee wall, marked 1872 • Oberstraße 11/13 – former church of the
Minorite monastery (
see also below); two-naved basilica, 1270/1290 to 1340, sacristy, 13th to 15th century, cloister wing, essentially mediaeval, conversion in the 17th or 18th century, monastery wall;
Crucifixion group, earlier half of the 18th century; former grammar school, essentially mediaeval, 15th or 16th century, conversions from 17th to 19th century; former Electoral winery, timber-frame building, partly solid, mid 19th century; hall cellar, 15th or 16th century; whole complex of buildings • Rathausstraße 1 – quarrystone building, half-hipped roof, middle third of the 19th century; sandstone portal, marked 1629 • Rathausstraße 3 – three-floor quarrystone building, middle third of the 19th century, wooden sculpture of “Saint” Werner, about 1900 • Near Rathausstraße 5 – well,
cast-iron hand pump, mid 19th century • Rathausstraße 6 – town hall; three-floor quarrystone building, partly slated timber framing, 1926/1927, architect T. Wildemans,
Bonn, central structure 1847-1850 • Rathausstraße 9 – shophouse, about 1910,
Baroque cellar • Rathausstraße 14 – old bakehouse; one-and-a-half-floor timber-frame house, mid 19th century, conversion 1885; secondhand corner upright, marked 1659 • At Rathausstraße 16 – inscription on gateway arch in capitals:
Annis Cum Centum a Suecis Exu(sta) 1719 (on the keystone) Mar(tin) Augsthalers ope refecta fui; door and skylight, early 18th century • Rathausstraße 23 – brick building, about 1865 • Rheinstraße 5 – timber-frame house, partly solid, marked 1765 • Rheinstraße 7 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, possibly from the 17th century, additions and conversions in the 18th and 20th centuries • Schaarplatz 4 – five-axis brick building, mixed building styles from Classicist and
Renaissance Revival, marked 1887 • Steingasse 6 – timber-frame house, partly solid, earlier half of the 17th century, addition in the 18th century • Unterstraße 1 – timber-frame house, partly solid, marked 1658, possibly conversion in the 19th century • Unterstraße 8 –
Haus Schönburg; L-shaped, three-floor quarrystone building, second fourth of the 19th century (before 1850), essentially possibly mediaeval, Schönburg coat of arms,
Schönburger Turm (tower) of the town wall incorporated • Unterstraße 12-14 – estate of the Eberbach Monastery with Saint Catherine's Chapel; aisleless church, possibly from the latter half of the 14th century; two-winged estate building, solid and Fachwerk, earlier half of the 18th century; whole complex of buildings • Unterstraße 18 –
Haus Gertum, quarrystone building, hipped roof, about 1830 • Wernerstraße 1 – plastered timber-frame house, 18th century • Border stones, west of town – seven border stones, one marked 1616 • Jewish graveyard (on the
Graue Lay, northwest of Oberwesel) (monumental zone) – opened in the earlier half of the 18th century, expanded possibly in the earlier half of the 19th century with building of the two main paths; with iron pale fence and gate with
Star of David from the late 19th century; fenced area with 66 gravestones: 9 from the 18th century, mainly 19th and early 20th century, newest gravestone 1942 •
Kalvarienbergkapelle ("Mount Calvary Chapel") and Stations of the Cross, Auf'm Kalvarienberg – Gothic Revival quarrystone aisleless church, 1843–1845; remnants of a Crucifixion group; 12 Stations of the Cross,
Bildstock type, including two small chapels, from 1849 on;
Lamentation of Christ, 16th century; whole complex of buildings • Warriors’ memorial 1866 and 1870/1871, near the Schönburg, across from the youth hostel – towards 1895, design by Heinrich Schuler,
Kirchheimbolanden • Niederbachstraße 120 –
Schneidersmühle (mill), timber-frame house, partly solid, 18th century, essentially older, marked 1607, painting work from the 19th century, millrace; whole complex of buildings with shed • Transformer tower, at the castle gate on the
Momering – 1922, architect possibly T. Wildeman • Tunnel portals – portals of the
Kammerecktunnel and
Bettunnel, mid 19th century
Weiler-Boppard • Am Weinberg 60 –
Saint Apollonia’s Chapel (
St.-Apollonia-Kapelle); aisleless church, earlier half of the 18th century • Near Am Weinberg 60 – bakehouse, one-floor plastered building, 1830/1840
Dellhofen • Holy Cross Catholic Church (
Kirche zum Heiligen Kreuz), Rheinhöhenstraße 24 – tower of the previous, Gothic Revival church, 1875/1876, nave under asymmetrically set saddle roof, 1961 • Rheinhöhenstraße 19 – timber-frame
Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), partly solid and slated, early 19th century • Rheinhöhenstraße 26 – bakehouse; one-floor brick building, latter half of the 19th century • Schulweg 6/8 – single-peak building; timber-frame building, mid 18th century
Engehöll •
Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church (branch church;
Filialkirche zur Schmerzhaften Muttergottes), Am Kapellenberg – quarrystone aisleless church, 1923–1925
Langscheid •
Saint Nicholas’s Catholic Church (branch church;
Filialkirche St. Nikolaus), Pfalzgrafenstraße 2 – aisleless church, 1782/1783, lengthening and new tower; whole complex of buildings with surrounding area • Bacharacher Straße 2 – bakehouse; plastered timber-frame building, marked 1888 • Brunnenweg 1 – timber-frame
Quereinhaus, late 19th or early 20th century • Kirchweg 1 – timber-frame
Quereinhaus, partly solid, marked 1718, barn 19th century; whole complex of buildings • Oberweseler Straße 4 – timber-frame
Quereinhaus, partly solid, stable building; whole complex of buildings • Pfalzgrafenstraße 1 – school; plastered timber-frame building, partly slated, 1841 • Pfalzgrafenstraße 51 – timber-frame
Quereinhaus, partly solid, 1916; former village smithy, partly slated, marked 19(2)3; whole complex of buildings
Further information about buildings and sites The town wall, which was built in the early 13th century and some of whose parts are open to the public, was expanded and strengthened in the 14th century, and with 16 defensive towers – among them the
Hospitalgassenturm ("Hospital Lane Tower"), the
Steingassenturm ("Stone Lane Tower"), the
Katzenturm ("Cats' Tower") and the
Ochsenturm ("Ox's Tower"), which is crenellated and has an octagonal top tower, making it a type of
butter-churn tower (
Butterfassturm) – is the best preserved girding wall anywhere on the Rhine Gorge. There was planning to open further sections to the public in 2006. "Saint" Werner's Chapel is nowadays more properly known as the
Mutter-Rosa-Kapelle, since its consecration to Werner has been rescinded and Werner has been stricken from the roll of saints. The chapel is now named after Rosa Flesch, the founder of a Franciscan order in the 19th century. Physically, it actually consists only of the quire of the chapel attached to the hospital, which itself was destroyed in 1689. Building work on the Church of Our Lady (
Liebfrauenkirche, or
Pfarrkirche Liebfrauen as it is styled above) began in 1308. In 1331, the church was consecrated and it was completed in 1375. It was built on the spot once occupied by another church, which was first mentioned in 1213. From the old church, the new one took over an endowment for
secular clergy (as opposed to
regular clergy). Given its architecture and appointments (golden altar,
rood screen, wall paintings), it is among the
Rhineland’s most important Gothic churches. and seat of the
Institute for Secular Law Saint Martin's Church, too, is a Gothic building that arose on a foregoing church’s old site. It was built in 1350, but was not finished owing to strained finances. The tower, which in the Wesel War was incorporated into the town wall as a defensive structure, is an illustrative example of ecclesiastical defensive architecture in the Rhineland. Much of the Gothic appointments has been destroyed. Preserved, however, are a few wall paintings from about 1500 to 1600. The Minorite monastery was a Franciscan institution founded in 1242 and dissolved in 1802 by
Napoleon. In the great town fire of 1836, it was destroyed, and has been a ruin ever since.
Haus Weitblick was opened in 2011. It is the seat of the
Giordano Bruno Foundation and the seat of the
Institute for Secular Law.
Museums •
Museum der Stadt Oberwesel (town museum at the
Kulturhaus Oberwesel - Kulturstiftung Hütte)
Regular events • Yearly concert
Wir machen Musik ("We make/are making music") staged by the Oberwesel "Kolping" family •
Weinhexennacht ("Wine Witches' Night") •
Mittelalterliches Spectaculum Oberwesel (“Mediaeval Spectacle”) at
Whitsun in even-numbered years •
Mittelrhein-Marathon from Oberwesel to
Koblenz in June •
Rhein in Flammen - Nacht der 1000 Feuer ("Night of the Thousand Fires") with traditional parade on following Sunday, each year on the second Saturday in September • Wine market on the marketplace and on Rathausstraße, on each second and third weekend in September
Winegrowing Within the
Middle Rhine wine region, Oberwesel is one of the biggest
winegrowing centres. The winemaking appellation –
Großlage – of Schloss Schönburg encompasses 72 ha. Individual winemakers within this appellation –
Einzellagen – are Sieben Jungfrauen, Oelsberg, Bienenberg, St. Martinsberg, Goldemund, Bernstein and Römerkrug. The
vineyards are steeply terraced and 80% of the area is planted with
Riesling and 20% with other white grape varieties (
Müller-Thurgau,
Kerner,
Pinot blanc) and less often with red varieties (
Pinot noir,
Dornfelder). All
kinds of wine (mild, half-dry and dry) and quality levels (
Prädikat Kabinett to the odd
ice wine) are produced. Recently in the Oelsberg vineyards, some light
Flurbereinigung was undertaken, and the now newly planted vineyards have been provided with an irrigation facility. This was meant to safeguard this traditional
Einzellage, for not only will it spare the winemakers some work, but it will also ensure good yields even in dry summers. Some of the 30 or so winemaking estates in town have been under family ownership for more than 200 years; some also keep wine bars in the town. ==Famous people==