It was artists travelling through Europe, painters as well as poets, who "discovered" the Rhine. Up until the early 19th century, the picturesque region went almost unnoticed, its banks and slopes with their castle ruins and fortresses all but forgotten after the Middle Ages, except by the boatmen who travelled along the Rhine. And they only had eyes for the river itself, sometimes barely navigable, along which they carried their goods to the big towns up and downriver.
The poets and painters were followed by the high nobility, and later by the wealthy classes. Prussian kings and princes were among the first to fall in love with the picturesque castle ruins along the Middle Rhine, and to have them elaborately renovated and extended as unique dwellings. In line with the romantic tastes of this period, great store was set by maintaining the medieval charm of the old buildings. Inside, they were of course modernised, because anyone who could afford this kind of home on the Rhine was not willing to live as the robber barons had done - with no heating and no modern water supply. Back then, 200 years ago, the foundation stone was laid that was to make the Rhine valley one of Germany's most popular travel destinations.