Pettingen Castle, a ruin with a thousand years of records

Some castles are about what’s inside them. Pettingen is about what it tells you. It stands on the edge of Pettingen, one of the eight localities that make up the commune of Mersch, and what you find is a square ruin with towers at its corners, no published ticket price and an official listing that shows it open from 1 January to 31 December.

A family at the heart of medieval Luxembourg

visitluxembourg says the fortress was recorded under the name Pittigero Mazini as early as the 10th century, and that by the 13th century the name had become Pettingen or Pittange. What makes it more than a pile of stones is who lived here. The lords of Pettingen turn up at the big moments of the county, at the wedding of Countess Ermesinde, at the accession of Henry IV and in the marriage contract of John the Blind. This was a family with real standing, not a lonely watchtower.

From stronghold to quarry

Two dates explain the shape you see. In 1571 the four corner towers were added, and in 1684 Louis XIV’s troops bombarded the castle, leaving it, as the French listing on visitluxembourg puts it, in the state it’s in today. It wasn’t abandoned straight away. The first land register, from 1824, shows buildings still in use against the four outer walls, and a larger building to the south-west that has since vanished.

The decline was gradual. The historian Engling noted it in 1850. The ruin passed by inheritance to the Counts de la Peyrouse, whose heirs sold Pettingen and Bissen to the Duke of Arenberg in 1837. In 1910 the Prince of Arenberg had everything of value stripped out, in 1920 the south front collapsed, and the castle ended up as a source of building stone. The state took it over in 1947.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Luxemburgo before prices climb.

Is Pettingen Castle worth the detour?

Honestly, it depends on how you fit it in. On its own, no. Tacked onto a morning in Mersch, yes, because the ruin doesn’t take long and rounds off a look at Mersch Castle in the town centre. The thing that lifts it is the audio guide. Visit Guttland has audio guides, recorded in 2013, for seven castles in the area, Pettingen included, and with one playing on your phone the dates above make sense in front of the stonework.

If ruins are your thing, the same series covers the Valley of the Seven Castles, and I’d treat Pettingen as a warm-up before heading down to the Eisch.

Getting there by train

Mersch is a stop on the northbound line out of Luxembourg City, and rail travel in second class costs nothing for anyone, which covers you whether you landed at Findel or came in on the train via Brussels or Paris. CFL lists a waiting room at Mersch station open 5:00 to 21:00 and a bus station next to it. For the last stretch to Pettingen, check the journey on mobiliteit.lu before you set out.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Luxemburgo before prices climb.

Where to go next

For a castle that’s the complete opposite of Pettingen, an 18th-century manor that only gained its towers in the 19th century, see Munsbach Castle. To see which castles actually open their doors and what they charge, head to my ranking of castles in Luxembourg.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Pettingen Castle and choose by the reviews.

A car frees you from timetables: search car hire in Luxembourg on DiscoverCars and compare companies.

So you do not pay over the odds, look at trains, coaches and flights to Luxembourg on Omio and pick the one that suits you.