Ehrenbreitstein

Ehrenbreitstein, a town and fortress of Rhenish Prussia, is picturesque situated on the right bank of the Rhine, directly opposite Coblenz, with which it is connected by a bridge of boats and an iron railway-viaduct. It has a trade in wine and corn. Pop. 5299. The fortress occupies the summit of a precipitous rock, 387 feet above the river, and inaccessible on three sides; on the north and north-west, the exposed part, it is very strongly fortified. The first regular fortification of Ehrenbreitstein was begun in 1672; sixteen years later it was vainly besieged by the French, who, however, captured it in 1799, and in 1801, on the conclusion of the peace of Lunéville, blew up the works. It was assigned to Prussia by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and in 1816-26 was restored and thoroughly fortified.