Postcard Burg Falkenstein in the Eifel, ruins above the Our, C. Schoren Luxembourg ca. 1915

Postcard from the early twentieth century showing a black-and-white phototype of Burg Falkenstein in the German Eifel. The image shows the ruins of the high medieval spur castle on a steep rocky promontory above the Our valley, with the surviving residential tower and chapel walls on the right, and on the left the adjoining residential building still inhabited today. In the background, the hill country of the German-Luxembourgian border region. At the top left, the caption reads "Falkenstein". Published by C. Schoren, Photographe, based at 10 Rue Bourbon in Luxembourg-Gare, with the LUX publisher's mark at the bottom left of the verso. The verso is unwritten and unposted, with a divided back. The card is in good condition.

Burg Falkenstein, first mentioned in 1173 as the seat of Ludovicus de Falcunstein, was one of the seven castles that secured the possessions of the County of Vianden in the Middle Ages, a territory then equivalent in size to today's Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The castle belonged to the Duchy of Luxembourg until the end of the eighteenth century and was destroyed by French troops in 1679. A partial reconstruction took place in 1685 under François Sébastien de la Gardelle. Today the residential tower, the residential building and the Romanesque chapel survive, and the castle is in private ownership. The river Our, which here forms a striking meander and serves as the border between Germany and Luxembourg, gave the castle its strategic position. Postcards of Falkenstein were published during the first decades of the twentieth century by both German and Luxembourgian photographers, this Luxembourg-side edition presenting the castle as part of the natural landscape of the border region.