Brüggen

Brüggen's castle developed beside a crossing of important regional trade routes in the Schwalm lowlands. First documented in 1289, it passed from the counts of Kessel to the rulers of Jülich in the early fourteenth century. Its buildings were repeatedly rebuilt, enlarged and adapted, including the addition of fortifications suited to firearms. Much of the complex was dismantled after it entered private ownership in the nineteenth century, and wartime damage required further restoration. The surviving residential range, round tower and gatehouse therefore represent several periods of construction rather than an unchanged medieval castle. Their later museum use gave the historic site a new public function.