Old Eltz Castle, Burg, Ganerbenburg Germany

Eltz Castle (German: Burg Eltz) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family (the Eltz family) that lived there in the 12th century, thirty-three generations ago. Bürresheim Castle, Eltz Castle and Lissingen Castle are the only castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed. The castle is surrounded on three sides by the river Elzbach, a tributary on the north side of the Moselle. It is on a 70-metre (230 ft) rock spur, on an important Roman trade route between rich farmlands and their markets. The Eltz Forest has been declared a nature reserve by Flora-Fauna-Habitat and Natura 2000.[2] The castle is a so-called Ganerbenburg, or castle belonging to community of joint heirs. This is a castle divided into several parts, which belong to different families or different branches of a family. Source: Wikipedia.org