Albrechtsburg-castle

• 01662  Meissen, Domplatz 1
• Albrechtsburg Castle and Cathedral
• state proprietorship
• Phone: 0 35 21 /47 07 0
• GPS: 51.166186, 13.470455
• Map
• back
   

• 50321 Brühl, Schloßstraße 6
• Augustusburg-castle
• Phone +49 2232 44000
• Museum
• GPS: 50.828293, 6.907830
• Map
• back

• 14482 Potsdam, Park Babelsberg 11
• Babelsberg-palace, castle
• Phone +49 (0)331-9694200
• Museum
• e-Booken
• GPS: 52.407775, 13.093088
• Map
• back

Babelsberg remained a residence of Wilhelm after his accession to the Prussian and German throne. It was here, where after a private conversation on 23 September 1862 he appointed Otto von Bismarck Minister President of Prussia and refrained from abdicating.  (Wikipédia)

• D-66706 Perl-Nennig/Mosel Schloßstraße 27-29
• Berg Nenning castle, hotel
• Phone +49 6866 79-0
• info@victors-gourmet.de
• GPS: 49.535004, 6.386618
• Map
• back

• 21029 Hamburg, Bergedorfer Schlossstraße 4
• Bergerdorf-castle
• Bergerdorf-kastély
• Museum
• Phone: 040/428 91 28 94
• info@)bergedorfmuseum.de
• GPS: 53.489498, 10.212392
• Map
• back

• 57319 Bad Berleburg Goetheplatz 8
• Berleburg-castle
• Berleburg-kastély
• Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Family, Museum
• Tel:+49 2751 936010
• magántul, látogatható
• eMail: info@schloss-schaenke-berleburg.de
• GPS: 51.051599,8.388901
• Map
• back

• 14059 Berlin, Spandauer Damm 20-24
• Charlottenburg castle, end palaces
• Phone:+49 30 320911
• Palace, Museum
• webbook
• Palace info
• GPS: 52.520941,13.295886
• Map
• back

The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during the 18th century. It includes much exotic internal decoration in baroque and rococo styles. A large formal garden surrounded by woodland was added behind the palace, including a belvedere, a mausoleum, a theatre and a pavilion. During the Second World War, the palace was badly damaged but has since been reconstructed. The palace with its gardens are a major tourist attraction. (Wiki)       

• 78250 Tengen-Blumenfeld  Schloßstraße 10
• Blumenfeld-castle
• Institute for social
• Tel.: 0 77 36/92 300
• GPS: 47.813623,8.681374
• Map
• back

The enlargement of the castle towards the Town followed from 1578 to 1582. Until 1805 this building was the house of office of the Teutonic order's deputies; from 1806 to 1857 it was Baden regional office, and then until 1864 the county court. Afterwards the archiepiscopal borstal St Joseph for poor children was put into the castle; this borstal was abolished as a result of the so called 'Kulturkampf' and was transferred to Riegel near Freiburg. From 1874 to 1876 the castle was unoccupied. On the occasion of a manoeuvre held in the vicinity in 1876 the castle had served for some months as a field hospital. The same year it was bought by twelve associated municipalities of the former officialdom Blumenfeld for an amount of about 12 000 Mark; they turned it into a poorhouse and hospital. Until 1973 it had served as a home for old people.
Due to a fantastic action of voluntary nature of the citizens of associated municipalities in the years from 1976 to 1978 inclusive the castle was preserved from decay.  (detailed text- tengen.de)

• 42659 Solingen, Schlossplatz 2
• Burg-castle
• Museum
• Tel.: 02 12/24 22 60 (Info)
  02 12/24 22 626 Kasse
• email: schloss.burg@t-online.de
• GPS: 51.137449,7.153137
• Map
• back

In the beginning of the 12th century (after 1133), Count Adolf III of Berg built Schloss Burg on a mountain over the river Wupper. The old castle of the counts, Castle Berge in Odenthal near Altenberg , was abandoned. The original name of the new castle was Castle Neuenberge (Newmountain), or in Latin, novus mons, novum castrum, or novi montis castrum. Not until the 15th century, after significant reconstruction as a hunting castle, did it receive its current name reflecting its palatial extension.
In 1632 Swedish soldiers laid siege to the castle. After the Thirty years war, in 1648, Imperial troops destroyed the fortifications of the castle including the keep, walls, and gates. In 1700, the main building was partially reconstructed and subsequently used for administrative purposes. 1849, the castle was sold to be scrapped, decayed, and became a ruin.
The architect Gerhard August Fischer from Barmen proposed in 1882 the reconstruction and submitted drawings and plans based on old documents, primarily using the castle’s appearance in the 16th century. Since 1890 the castle reconstruction committee led the restoration of the castle during the next 24 years. Painters from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf participated. With the erection of the Battery Tower in 1914 the work seemed completed.

In the night of November 26, 1920 a large fire destroyed much of the castle. Subsequently visitors had to pay entry fees and the money was used to restore and rebuild the castle again. Reconstruction lasted from 1922 to 1925. In 1929 the Engelbert monument by the sculptor Paul Wynand was dedicated to honor the builder and archbishop.

Today’s appearance does not exactly match the condition documented by Erich Philipp Ploennies at about 1715. The reconstructed castle of today is a major public attraction. It also contains the Museum of the Bergische Land. The castle church is popular for weddings. The castle also is home to the Memorial for Deportation and the Memorial of the German Eastern Provinces with church bells from Königsberg and Breslau. In addition, commercial shops for souvenirs are located on the grounds.

The surroundings offer hiking trails to the forests and to Unterburg, that is where the village is located, at the foot of the mountain. There you can buy the Burger Brezel, a local pretzel specialty; the pretzel bakers even have a monument. An aerial chairlift (Sielbahn) connects Unterburg and the castle.

Burg used to be an independent township until it became part of Solingen in 1975.  (Wikipédia)

• 31675 Bückeburg, Schlossplatz 1
• Bückeburg-castle
• Museum
• Tel: 0 57 22/50 39
• Email: schlossbueckeburg@t-online.de
• GPS: 52.258951,9.043727
• Map
• back

Bückeburg Palace has been in the possession of the family of the Counts of Holstein-Schaumburg, later the Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe, for over 700 years. The present building is a Renaissance palace with historic halls and rooms from four centuries. Particularly impressive is the Great Banqueting Hall; the lavishly ornamented Palace Chapel and the Golden Hall contain masterpieces of the art of woodcarving. The Palace, which lies in the centre of the town of Bückeburg, is an attraction that draws visitors from far beyond the local area. It is surrounded by extensive gardens and parks covering more than 80 hectares (200 acres). The Mausoleum of the princely family, the biggest private mausoleum in the world, is surrounded by a park of its own. The mosaics and the shining gilded dome are strikingly colourful. (http://www.faszination-schloesser.de/bueckeburgpalace.html)       

• 35619 Braunfels Belzgasse 1
• Braunfels-castle
• Tel. +49 (0) 6442 / 33 909 13
• +49 (0) 6442 / 5002  (Weekend 11-17 clock )
• photo
• Braunfels Amália
• info@schloss-braunfels.de
• GPS: 50.513665,8.387749
• Map
• back

• 96450 Coburg, Callenberg 1
• Callenberg-castle
• Family Museum
• Tel: 09561-5515-0
• mail@schloss-callenberg.de
• GPS: 50.277904,10.92292
• Map
• back

1588-1826
Through devolution the castle became the property of Duke Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg in 1588, after the death of the last von Sternberg. Until 1825 the ducal treasury and the Castle of Callenberg were property of the Dukes of Saxe- Meiningen. It is only in 1826 that the Coburg Dukes become owners of Callenberg Castle again.

1831-1945
In 1831 the reconstruction of the upper castle was concluded, after Carl Alexander of Heideloff’s plans. In 1856/57, under the reign of Duke Ernst II. the lower part of the castle is altered in Neogothic style.  Until 1945 the castle was the summer residence of the Coburg Dukes.

Since 1998
After extensive restoration the former summer home of the Coburg Dukes was restored and since 1998 lodges the collection of ducal art treasures, with precious pieces of furniture, paintings, porcelain, traditional handicrafts and a selection of weapons from four centuries.

(schloss-callenberg.com)

• 91743 Unterschwaningen Schloss Dennenlohe 1
• Dennenlohe-castle
• Tel: 09836-9688
• open: 10-17
• mail: schloss@dennenlohe.de
• video
• GPS: 49.096734,10.610029
• Map
• back

When the electric gates buzz open, the baroque facade of Castle Dennenlohe, which has remained unchanged since 1734, greets its visitors.
The cavalry houses, gardens and the adjacent farm buildings date from the same period. High walls surround the castle and grounds and create an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity.The architect, not just for the castle but for the entire complex, was the Italian Leopold Retti, master builder at the court of the margrave of Ansbach and a master of German baroque architecture. Famous castles in Ludwigsburg and Ansbach as well as the "Neues Schloss" in Stuttgart were also drafted on his drawing board. He designed Castle Dennenlohe for the diplomat Baron Eichler von Auritz. Since 1825 it has been in the possession of the Barons von Süsskind who have now lived there for eight generations. The castle is the home of the baronial family and their Airedale terriers. In July and August the bush-roses blossom in the circular flower bed edged with box. The castle and castle grounds are physically one entity, however the overall complex can be clearly divided into four separate areas, each with a different theme (as shown in the sketch of the layout). From a historical point of view, the individual areas can be ascribed to two building phases. From 1734 to 1750 the architect Leopold Retti designed not only the castle but a complete ensemble including the farm buildings and the Private Garden. It was the present-day Baron Süsskind who added two further attractions to the ancestral family castle - the Rhododendron Park in 1990 and the landscape garden in 2006.
These additions have helped to promote Castle Dennenlohe’s popularity beyond the national boundaries. (dennenlohe.de)

• 32756 Detmold Schlossplatz 1
• Detmold- Prince rezidence and castle
• Tel: 0 52 31/70 02-0
• Mail: verwaltung@schloss-detmold.de
• GPS: 51.936427,8.878132
• Map
• back

• 53639 (Bonn) Königswinter, Drachenfelsstraße
• Drachenburg castle
• Tel: 02223-90197-0
• mail@schloss-drachenburg.de
• GPS: 50.669105,7.20629
• Map
• back

• 56294 Münstermaifeld, Burg-Eltz-Straße 1
• Eltz-castle
• Museum, Kincstár, Treasury
• Tel.:+49 (0) 2672 95050-0
• Open: 9,30-17,30
• Mail: burg@eltz.org
• GPS: 50.205205,7.336522
• Map
• back

Eltz Castle (German: Burg Eltz) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. The Rübenach and Rodendorf families' homes in the castle are open to the public, while the Kempenich branch of the family uses the other third of the castle. The Palace of Bürresheim (Schloss Bürresheim), the Castle of Eltz and the Castle of Lissingen are the only castles on the left bank of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate which have never been destroyed.

The castle is a so-called Ganerbenburg, or castle belonging to a community of joint heirs. This is a castle divided into several parts, which belong to different families or different branches of a family; this usually occurs when multiple owners of one or more territories jointly build a castle to house themselves. Only a very rich medieval European lord could afford to build a castle on his land; many of them only owned one village, or even only a part of a village. This was an insufficient base to afford a castle. Such lords lived in a knight's house, which was a simple house, scarcely bigger than those of his tenants. In some parts of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, inheritance law required that the estate be divided between all successors. These successors, each of whose individual inheritance was too small to build a castle of his own, could build a castle together, where each owned one separate part for housing and all of them together shared the defensive fortification. In the case of Eltz, the family comprised three branches and the existing castle was enhanced with three separate complexes of buildings.

The main part of the castle consists of the family portions. At up to eight stories, these eight towers reach heights of between 30 and 40 meters. They are fortified with strong exterior walls; to the yard they present a partial framework. About 100 members of the owners' families lived in the over 100 rooms of the castle.

Platteltz, a Romanesque keep, is the oldest part of the castle. In 1472 the Rübenach house, built in the Late Gothic style, was completed. Remarkable are the Rübenach Lower Hall, a living room, and the Rübenach bedchamber with its opulently decorated walls.
Between 1490 and 1540, the Rodendorf house was constructed, also in Late Gothic style. It contains the vaulted "banner-room".
The Kempenich houses were finished about 1530. Every room of this part of the castle could be heated; in contrast, other castles might only have one or two heated rooms. From 1965 to 1992, an engraving of Eltz Castle was used on the German 500 Deutsche Mark note.

• 50321 Brühl, Schloßstraße 6
• Falkenlust-huntingcastle
• Tel: +49 2232 44000
• Museum
• GPS: 50.819798, 6.929221
• Map
• back

A második világháború vége felé az Augustusburg kastély súlyosan károsodott, de már 1946-ban elkezdték a helyreállítást. A vadászkastély is átfogó restaurálásra szorult. 1994-ig a német államfő a kastélyban adott fogadásokat állami vendégek részére. (forrás: Wiki)

• 36124 Eichenzell bei Fulda Schloss Fasanerie
• Fasanerie-castle
• Museum, Park, Gastronomia
• Tel:+49 - (0)661 / 94 86-0
• Mail: museum@schloss-fasanerie.de
• GPS: 50.507678,9.70797
• Map
• back

Two elongated wings flank a completely enclosed courtyard and a three-sided Cour d'honneur. Lodges, gated enclosures, and also guard houses and estate outbuildings in front of the main building indicate that the highest ranking family in the land resided in this palace (complex. schloss-fasanerie.de)

• Glücksburg  24960 Große Straße
• Glücksburg-castle
• Museum
• Tel: +49 (0) 46 31-44 23 30
• Mail: info@schloss-gluecksburg.de
• GPS: 54.832067, 9.543390
• Map
• back

• 38640 Goslar Kaiserbleek 6
• Goslar-palace
• Museum
• Tel :Tel. 05321-78060
• Mail: tourist-information@goslar.de
• GPS: 51.902881,10.425615
• Map
• back

• D - 31860 Emmerthal Rittergut Hämelschenburg Schlossstr. 1
• Hämelschenburg-castle
• Castlemuseum
• Tel:+49 (0) 5155 - 951690
• Mail: kontakt@schloss-haemelschenburg.de
  GPS: 52.028033,9.343075
• Map
• back

• 58119 Hagen-Hohenlimburg
  Nordrhein-Westfalen
  Schloss Hohenlimburg gemeinnützige GmbH
  Alter Schlossweg 30
• Hohenlimburg-castle
• Castlemuseum
• Tel: (02334) 2771
• Mail: museum@schloss-hohenlimburg.de
• GPS: 51.344714,7.570325
• Map
• back

• D-72379 Burg Hohenzollern
• Germany
• Hohenzollern-castle
• Museum
• info@burg-hohenzollern.com
• Tel: +49 (0)7471 2428
• GPS: 48.323130, 8.968254
• Map
• back

When the family split into two branches, the castle remained the property of the Swabian branch, the dynastic seniors of the Franconian/Brandenburg branch which later acquired an imperial throne. The castle was completely destroyed after a 10-month siege in 1423 by the imperial cities of Swabia. A second, larger and more sturdy castle was constructed from 1454 to 1461 and served as a refuge for the Catholic Swabian Hohenzollerns during wartime, including during the Thirty Years' War. By the end of the 18th century, however, the castle was thought to have lost its strategic importance and gradually fell into disrepair, leading to the demolition of several dilapidated buildings. Today, only the chapel remains from the medieval castle.
The third version of the castle, which stands today, was constructed for Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867, under the direction of Friedrich August Stüler, who based his design on English Neo-Gothic style as well as the castles of the Loire Valley. Because the castle was built as a family memorial, no member of the Hohenzollern family took residence in this third castle until 1945, when it became home to the last Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm who is buried there with his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie.
Among the historical artifacts of Prussian history contained in the castle today are the Crown of Wilhelm II and some of the personal effects of Frederick the Great and a letter from US President George Washington thanking Baron von Steuben, a scion of the House of Hohenzollern, for his service in the American Revolutionary War. The castle is today a popular tourist destination. (Wiki)       

Photo:  Dako99

• Info: 02797 Kurort Oybin Fremdenverkehrsbetrieb Oybin
  Burg und Kloster
  Hauptstraße 16
• Oybin-monastery and castleruin
• Oybin-kolostor és várrom
• Tel: +49 (035844) 73311
• +49 (035844) 73414 
• Mail: info@oybin.com
• video
• GPS: 50.843896,14.741426
• Map
• back

• Thüringen  98617 Meiningen/Thüringen
  Schloss Landsberg
  Landsberger Straße 150
• Landsberg-palace,hotel
• Tel:+49 3693 44090
• Mail: info@meininger-hotels-mit-flair.de
• GPS:  50.600658, 10.394573
• Map
• back

• D-74595 Langenburg Schloss 1
• Langenburg-castle
• Hotel
• castle museum, oldsmobil museum
• Tel: +49 (0) 79 05 - 94 190 34
• Mail: sekretariat@schloss-langenburg.de
• GPS: 49.252856, 9.843433
• Map
• back

In the 17th Century, Langenburg was the site of witch trials. The last victims, Anna Schmieg and Barbara Schleicher, were executed in 1672.  (Wiki)

• 56338 Braubach Deutsche Burgenvereinigung
  Marksburg
• Marksburg-castle
• Tel: 02627-206
• Mail: info@deutsche-burgen.org
• GPS: 50.272232, 7.648901
• Map
• back

The castle was built to protect the town of Braubach and to reinforce the customs facilities. It was built around 1117 and explicitly first mentioned in 1231. In 1283 Count Eberhard of Katzenelnbogen bought it and throughout the 14th and 15th century the high noble Counts rebuilt the castle constantly. In 1479 the territories of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen (male line extinct) went to the Count of Hessen.

In the Napoleonic period the castle was used as a prison. In 1815 it belonged to the Duchy of Nassau. After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 the Duchy of Nassau became a territory of Prussia.

Finally, it was sold in 1900 for a symbolic price of 1,000 Goldmark to the German Castle Association, which had been founded a year earlier as a private initiative to preserve castles in Germany. The Marksburg is the head office of this organisation since 1931.

In March 1945, the castle was damaged heavily by American artillery fired from the other side of the Rhine.  In the 1990s the castle was copied in the German culture village Ueno on the Japanese island Miyako-jima. (Wiki)
 

• 06632 Freyburg/Unstrut Museum Schloss Neuenburg
  Am Schloss 1
• Neuenburg castle
• Museum
• Tel:00 49 (0)34464-35530
• Mail: info@schloss-neuenburg.de
• GPS: 51.208618,11.776117
• Map
• back

• 87645 Hohenschwangau  Neuschwansteinstraße 20
• Ticket-Center Hohenschwangau
  Alpseestrasse 12
  87645 Hohenschwangau
  Tel (0 83 62) 9 30 83-0
• Neuschwanstein-castle
• Castle Museum
• Tel: (0 83 62) 9 39 88-77
• mail: svneuschwanstein@bsv.bayern.de
• GPS: 47.557769,10.74973
• Map
• back

The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886. Since then more than 60 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle and later, similar structures.
The effect of the Neuschwanstein ensemble is highly theatrical, both externally and internally. The king's influence is apparent throughout, and he took a keen personal interest in the design and decoration. An example can be seen in his comments, or commands, regarding a mural depicting Lohengrin in the Palas; "His Majesty wishes that ... the ship be placed further from the shore, that Lohengrin's neck be less tilted, that the chain from the ship to the swan be of gold and not of roses, and finally that the style of the castle shall be kept medieval."[citation needed]

The suite of rooms within the Palas contains the Throne Room, Ludwig's suite, the Singers' Hall, and the Grotto. Throughout, the design pays homage to the German legends of Lohengrin, the Swan Knight. Hohenschwangau, where Ludwig spent much of his youth, had decorations of these sagas. These themes were taken up in the operas of Richard Wagner. Many rooms bear a border depicting the various operas written by Wagner, including a theater permanently featuring the set of one such play. Many of the interior rooms remain undecorated, with only 14 rooms finished before Ludwig's death. With the palace under construction at the king's death, one of the major features of the palace remained unbuilt. A massive keep, which would have formed the highest point and central focus of the ensemble, was planned for the middle of the upper courtyard but was never built, at the decision of the King's family. The foundation for the keep is visible in the upper courtyard.
View from south-east, Palas on the left

Neuschwanstein Castle consists of several individual structures which were erected over a length of 150 metres on the top of a cliff ridge. The elongate building is furnished with numerous towers, ornamental turrets, gables, balconies, pinnacles and sculptures. Following Romanesque style, most window openings are fashioned as bi- and triforia. Before the backdrop of the Tegelberg and the Pöllat Gorge in the south and the Alpine foothills with their lakes in the north, the ensemble of individual buildings provides varying picturesque views of the palace from all directions. It was designed as the romantic ideal of a knight's castle. Unlike "real" castles, whose building stock is in most cases the result of centuries of building activity, Neuschwanstein was planned from the inception as an intentionally asymmetric building, and erected in consecutive stages. Typical attributes of a castle were included, but real fortifications – the most important feature of a medieval aristocratic estate – were dispensed with. (Wiki)

• 59394 Nordkirchen Schloß 1
• Nordkirchen-castle
• Museum
• Tel: 02596/933-0
• GPS: 51.732574,7.533809
• Map
• back

The architects of the schloss and its complex of outbuildings were Gottfried Laurenz Pictorius, Peter Pictorius the Younger (from 1706) and Johann Conrad Schlaun, from 1724. The taller corps de logis is flanked by symmetrical lower wings, one of which contains the chapel. The wings are rigorously symmetrical and enclose the cour d'honneur in a U shape. Dutch precedents, such as the palace Het Loo near Apeldoorn, make their presence felt, but the sandstone facing of Schloss Nordkirchen is purely Westphalian.

The Venusinsel Moat, parterres and park
The schloss stands on a rectangular island surrounded by a broad moat-like canal. The island’s four corners are accentuated by four small free-standing pavilions.
The garden front gives onto a landscaped park of some 170 hectares, reached through a formal parterre of scrolling broderie on axis, flanked by expanses of lawn. The gardens and the surrounded woods are peopled with a multitude of lifesize marble statues, of which the first deliveries were made in 1721 by the Munich sculptor Johann Wilhelm Gröninger. Other sculptures were delivered by Panhoff and Charles Manskirch. Further sculptures were added during the restoration in neo-Baroque style, undertaken in 1903-07. (Wiki)

• 56812 Cochem  Oberer Weg 1
• Reichsburg-Cochem-castle
• Tel:+49 2671 255,0 26 71 - 2 55
• photo
• Mail: info@reichsburg-cochem.de
• GPS: 50.142376,7.166942
• Map
• back

• Sababurg 12, 34369 Hofgeismar
• Sababurg castle
• ZOO, Hotel
• Tel:+49 5671 80
• Mail:dornroeschenschloss@sababurg.de
• GPS: 51.543858,9.537503
• Map
• back

• 88682 Salem, Salem Monastery and Palace
• Salem-castle
• Palace and  Monastery, School,Museum
• Tel:+49(0)75 53.9 16 53-36
• video
• GPS: 47.776692, 9.276676
• Map
• back

ABBEY-Salem Abbey (Kloster or Reichskloster Salem), also known as Salmansweiler and in Latin as Salomonis Villa, was a very prominent Cistercian monastery in Salem in the district of Bodensee about ten miles from Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The abbey was founded in 1136 by Gunthram of Adelsreute (d. 1138) as a daughter house of Lützel Abbey in Alsace, in the foundation of which Gunthram had also been involved. Lützel was a daughter house of Bellevaux Abbey, in its turn the first daughter house of Morimond. Blessed Frowin of Bellevaux, formerly the travelling companion and interpreter of Bernard of Clairvaux, became the first abbot of Salem. He had been professed at Bellevaux, and was of the colony sent to found Lützel, and this has caused some misunderstandings in the past to the effect that Salem was founded from Bellevaux rather than from Lützel.
The abbey soon became very prosperous. Extensive and magnificent buildings, erected in three squares, and a splendid church were constructed between 1182 and 1311. Salem was noted as the richest and most beautiful monastery in Germany, being particularly renowned for its hospitality. Amongst its greatest benefactors and patrons were Conrad of Swabia and Frederick Barbarossa. The former placed the abbey under the special protection of himself and his successors, whence the title of "Imperial abbey" ("Reichsabtei" or "Reichskloster" — independent from all territorial lordship bar that of the emperor alone) which was renewed several times under Barbarossa and his successors. Pope Innocent II also took the abbey under his particular patronage.
Its growth was continuous; after having made three important foundations — Raitenhauslach Abbey (1143), Wettingen Abbey or Stella Maris (1227), and Königsbronn Abbey (1303) — it still numbered 285 monks at the beginning of the 14th century. Its abbot, from 1454 on, was privileged to confer subdeaconship on his monks.
Andreas Brugger: Great fire of Salem, 9 March 1697. Oil painting.
The abbey gradually declined, and with the exception of the church was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in 1697. Rebuilding started immediately and Salem was reconstructed as an impressive Baroque complex.
Later in the century the abbey undertook between 1746 and 1749 the development of the pilgrimage church of Birnau under the supervision of Peter Thumb.
Caspar Oexle, who, as librarian, had increased the library to 30,000 volumes and a great number of manuscripts, was elected abbot in March 1802. In September of the same year the abbey was suppressed and given to the Margrave of Baden, while the library was added to that of Petershausen Abbey, and finally sold to the University of Heidelberg.
The church, known as Salem Minster ("Salemer Münster"), a Gothic structure which escaped the fire of 1697, became a parish church; but the famous grand tower with its fifteen bells, the largest weighing 10,000 lb, was destroyed in 1805–07.

Castle- The other abbey buildings were used as the castle of the Grand Dukes of Baden, and the site was from then on known as Schloss Salem.

 School-  In 1920, part of the castle premises were acquired for use as a boarding school, which continues to this day as the Schule Schloss Salem. (Wiki)

Sayn-castle

• 56170 Bendorf-Sayn Verwaltung Schloss Sayn, Schloss-Straße 100
• Rheinisches Eisenkunstguss-Museum Abteistraße 1/Schloss Sayn
  56170 Bendorf- Sayn, Deutschland
  +49 2622 902918
• Sayn castle
• Butterfly Garden
• Tel.: 0 26 22/9024-0
• Mail: schloss@sayn.de
• virtual tour
• GPS: 50.439205, 7.575921
• Map
• back
   

Schweriner-castle

• 19053 Schwerin Lennéstraße 1
• Mecklenburg-Pomerania Province headquarters
• Schweriner castle
• Museum
• Tel: 0385 5252920
• Mail: kontakt
• GPS: 53.624672, 11.418458
• Map
• back

Sigmaringen-castle

• D-72488 Sigmaringen Schloss Sigmaringen, Karl Anton Platz 8
• Sigmaringen castle
• Museum
• Tel: +49(0)7571 729-230
• Mail: schloss@hohenzollern.com
• photo
• GPS: 48.087570, 9.216335
• Map
• back

Stetten-castle

• 74653 Künzelsaum Residenzen Schloß Stetten  - Schloß Stetten
• Stetten castle
• Tel: 07940/126-0
• Tel: 07940 - 987600
• Festival, Theatre
• Mail: mail@schloss-stetten.de
• info@stetten-ticket.de
• GPS: 49.267223, 9.769391
• Map
• back

Sugenheim-castle

• 91484 Sugenheim Im Alten Schloß Schlossstraße 47D
• Sugenheim castle
• Toymuseum
• Tel: 0 91 65 - 650
• Mail: info(at)kunstsammlungen-sugenheim.de
• GPS: 49.603808, 10.439425
• Map
• back

Thurnund Taxis-castle

• 93047 Regensburg Emmeramsplatz 5‎
• Thurnund Taxis  castle
• Museum
• Tel:0049-(0)941-50480
• Mail:gesamtverwaltung@thurnundtaxis.de
• Sisi road
• GPS: 49.014589, 12.093903
• Map
• back

Saint Wolfgang, who was made bishop in 972, ordered that a library be constructed at St. Emmeram shortly after his arrival in Regensburg. An active scriptorium had existed at St. Emmeram in the Carolingian period, but it is not known whether it occupied a special building, and it appears that relatively few manuscripts of poor quality were produced there during the early tenth century. Over time, some works in the scriptorium were copied by monks, some works were preserved from the Carolingian period, and others were acquired as gifts. The library became well supplied with works by early Christian writers such as Saint Augustine, as well as by ancient writers such as Virgil and Seneca. In addition to works that had an overt religious or inspirational purpose, the library held a large collection of manuscripts used in the monastery school, focusing on subjects such as logic, arithmetic, rhetoric, grammar, and even astronomy and music. By the early eleventh century, the library at St. Emmeram had acquired a reputation for its collection. Neighboring libraries began requesting to borrow books for copying. An eleventh century librarian at the monastery, Froumund of Tegernsee, referred to the book room as a bibliotheca, a term implying an extensive manuscript collection. The scriptorium of St. Emmeram's in the Early Middle Ages became a significant centre of book production and illumination, the home of works such as the sacramentary of Emperor Henry II (produced between 1002 and 1014) and the Uta Codex (shortly after 1002).

In 1295 the counter-king Adolf of Nassau granted the abbey the regalia and made it reichsunmittelbar (i.e., an Imperial abbey, an independent sovereign power subject directly to the emperor).

After a decline in its significance during the 16th century the abbey enjoyed a resurgence in the 17th and 18th centuries under abbots Frobenius Forster, Coelestin Steiglehner, Roman Zirngibl and Placidus Heinrich, great scholars, particularly in the natural sciences. Under their leadership the abbey academy came to rival the Münchner Akademie. St. Emmeram's had a long tradition of scientific enquiry dating from the Middle Ages, in witness of which the monastery preserved the astrolabe of William of Hirsau.

In 1731, the abbots were raised to the status of Princes of the Empire (Reichsfürsten). Between 1731 and 1733 there followed the magnificent Baroque refurbishment, by the Asam brothers, of the abbey church, which had been repeatedly burnt out and repaired.

In 1803, St. Emmeram's, along with the Imperial City of Regensburg, the Bishopric of Regensburg and the two other Imperial Abbeys (Niedermünster and Obermünster), lost its previous politically independent status to the newly formed Principality of Regensburg, often referred to as the Archbishopric of Regensburg, under the former Prince-Primate Carl Theodor von Dalberg. After the Treaty of Paris of 1810, the entire Principality of Regensburg was transferred to Bavaria.

In 1812 the monastic buildings were granted to the Princes of Thurn und Taxis, who had St. Emmeram's Abbey converted as a residence known from then on as Schloss Thurn und Taxis, sometimes called Schloss Sankt Emmeram. (Wiki)

Waldeck vom Schiff-castlehotel

• 34513 Waldeck  Schloss Waldeck 1
• Waldeck vom Schiff castle hotel
• Tel:+49 (0)5623 - 589-0
• Mail: info@hotel-schloss-waldeck.de
• GPS: 51.203734,9.05563
• Map
• back

Waldeck castle rests on the remnants of an 11th-century fortification, towering over the town of Waldeck, in the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg in Hesse (Germany). The castle is situated to the north of the Kellerwald-Edersee nature reserve, 220 metres above the Edersee's north shore, on a steep, wooded rock close to the centre of the halftimbered town of Waldeck. What better place to take in the beautiful scenery!

Formerly the ancestral seat and residence of the Counts of Waldeck, the fortification was later used as military barracks. In 1734 it was a state penitentiary, and in subsequent years was used as state archive, forestry office, and, as early as 1906, was put to use as a hotel. Today it belongs to the Waldeckian domanial administration and is public property.

In September 2009, new leaseholder Volker Deigendesch reopened the redesigned Hotel Schloss Waldeck.  (http://www.schloss-hotel-waldeck.com)

• 99817 Eisenach Wartburg-Stiftung
  Auf der Wartburg 1
• Wartburg-castle
  Tel: 0 36 91/25 00
• photo
• Mail:info@wartburg.de
• GPS: 50.966603,10.306323
• Map
• back

History

The castle's foundation was laid about 1068 by the Thuringian count of Schauenburg, Louis the Springer, a relative of the Counts of Rieneck in Franconia. Together with its larger sister castle Neuenburg in the present-day town of Freyburg, the Wartburg secured the extreme borders of his traditional territories.

According to tradition, the castle (Burg) got its name when its founder first laid eyes on the hill upon which the castle now sits; enchanted by the site, he is supposed to have exclaimed, "Warte, Berg -- du sollst mir eine Burg tragen!" ("Wait, mountain -- you shall bear a castle for me!").[3] It is a German play on words for mountain (Berg) and fortress (Burg). In addition, Louis the Springer is said to have had clay from his lands transported to the top of the hill, which was not quite within his lands, so he might swear that the castle was built on his soil. In fact, the name probably derives from German: Warte, a kind of watchtower as stated in the above source.

The castle was first mentioned during the Investiture Controversy in a 1080 deed, when Louis's henchmen attacked a military contingent of King Henry IV of Germany. The count remained a fierce opponent of the Salian rulers, and upon the extinction of the line, his son Louis I was elevated to the rank of a Landgrave in Thuringia by the new German king Lothair of Supplinburg in 1131.

The Wartburg remained the seat of the Thuringian landgraves until 1440, and as a place of courtly culture it became around 1207 the venue of the Sängerkrieg, the Minstrels' Contest in which such Minnesänger as Walther von der Vogelweide,Wolfram von Eschenbach,Albrecht von Halberstadt (the translator of Ovid) and many others took part. The contest was later to be treated with poetic licence in Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser.

At the age of four, St. Elisabeth of Hungary was sent by her mother to the Wartburg to be raised to become consort of Ludwig IV of Thuringia. From 1211 to 1228, she lived there and was renowned for her charitable work. Three years after moving to Marburg upon the death of her husband, she died at the age of 24 and was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

From May 1521 to March 1522, Martin Luther stayed at the castle, after he had been taken there for his safety at the request of Frederick the Wise following his excommunication by Pope Leo X and his refusal to recant at the Diet of Worms. It was during this period that Luther, under the name of Junker Jörg (the Knight George), translated the New Testament into German. Luther's was not the first German translation of the Bible but it quickly became the most well known and most widely circulated.

From 1540 until his death in 1548, Fritz Erbe, an Anabaptist farmer from Herda, was held captive in the dungeon of the south tower, because he refused to abjure anabaptism. After his death, he was buried in the Wartburg near the chapel of St. Elisabeth. In 1925 a handwritten signature of Fritz Erbe was found on the prison wall.

On 18 October 1817, the first Wartburg festival took place. About 450 students, members of the newly founded German Burschenschaften ("fraternities"), came together at the castle to celebrate the German victory over Napoleon four years before, condemn conservatism and call for German unity. Speakers at the event included Heinrich Hermann Riemann, a veteran of the Lützow Free Corps, the philosophy student Ludwig Rödiger, and Hans Ferdinand Massmann.

With the permission of the absent chaplain Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, the Code Napoléon and other books were burned 'in effigy': instead of the costly volumes, scraps of parchment with the titles of conservative books (including August von Kotzebue's History of the German Empires) were placed on the bonfire. Karl Ludwig Sand, who would assassinate Kotzebue two years later, was among the participants.

This event and the similar gathering at Wartburg during the Revolutions of 1848 are considered seminal moments in the movement for German unification. ( Wiki)    

• Schloßstraße 8, 38448 Wolfsburg
• Wolsburg-castle
• Museum
• Phone: +49 5361 281040
• Email:onlinekommunikation@stadt.wolfsburg.de
• Wikipédia
• GPS: 52.43925,10.79956
• Map
• back

During the Middle Ages the castle was not an enclosed site, but consisted of the bergfried and an attached building, the Old House (Altes Haus) in the present west wing. The site was a strong fortification of considerable strategic importance. Later it was even equipped with cannon, for according to a 1437 document the number of guns was to be increased by 10 pieces in the event of war. According to this record, there were only attacks on the castle during the feud of the von Bartenslebens against Duke Otto of Lüneburg in 1464, whereby it was intended to be largely demolished (mehrentheils demoliret worden seyn).
The Wolfsburg emerged from the Thirty Years' War as one of the few aristocratic castles that remained undestroyed. It was almost continuously garrisoned by troops of the warring parties, the last being the Swedes. The lords of Brunswick and Magdeburg forced their withdrawal came in 1650 by having the castellans have the fortifications slighted. Six years later the von Bartenslebens had the fortifications rebuilt because they wanted to retain the military character of the castle. ( Wiki)