Burgruine Rossel

The Rossel, an artificial ruin, is located on the western boundary of the district of Rüdesheim am Rhein with its district of Assmannshausen in the Rheingau-Taunus district of Hesse, and is now an excursion destination in the Niederwald Landscape Park with a view of the opposite mouth of the Nahe into the Rhine and the Bingen Loch. At its feet, about 400 meters to the south, are the Ehrenfels castle ruins and, on a small island off the Rhine, the Bingen Mäuseturm. The Rossel is about a 20-minute walk from the Niederwald Monument and a 10-minute walk from the Niederwald Hunting Lodge.

Count Johann Friedrich Karl Maximilian von Ostein had the artificial ruin built from 1774 onwards as part of the transformation of the Niederwald into a landscape park for his guests. It was named after a boulder dump of the same name made of Taunus quartzite in its immediate vicinity.

The Rossel consists of a square main tower about 5 meters wide with a small terrace to the south facing the Rhine and with a small stair tower to the northwest. The ruin, built of fieldstones, is decorated with castle elements.

Rossel is surrounded by several viewpoints, such as Naheblick and Rittersaal and the so-called Zauberhöhle, a walled artificial cave about 60 meters long.