castle week: hessen

Fulda, near where the states of Bavaria, Thüringen and Hessen come together, has, along with the rest of Hessen, an interesting and rich history of reparation and reinvention as earthly and spiritual powers were concentrated, vetted and vested. The Baroque City Palace (Stadtschloss), which has an impressive ensemble of wings, annexes and ornamentation—including an Orangerie (a hot-house for exotic plants) served as a residence for the prince-bishop electors and later the crown prince, dependent on the amoeboid influences of the time, of course, and faces the magnificent cathedral of Saint Saviour, modeled after the old basilica of Saint Peter in Rome, which houses the relics of Germany’s premiere missionary and patron saint, Boniface. Just south of Wiesbaden along the banks of the Rhine is the splendid residential palace and parks of the princes and dukes of Nassau. Schloss Biebrich sprawls with arcades and rotunda and was supposed designed in deference to Versailles as well but the architectural license does not at all seem derivation. The palace was badly damaged during WWII bombing raids but was salvaged and restored, thanks in large part to film and theatrical institutions, like the German motion picture rating agency, that took up temporary quarters in the intact wings.

The towers and bastion of Schloss Steinau, located in the town Steinau an der Straße on a branch of the Kinzig river, form the best-preserved early-Renaissance castle in Germany. The structure, formerly the home to the counts of Hanau, presides over a fairy-tale historic city-centre that was the inspiration for the Brothers Grimm to catalogue and classify folklore and myths. Just to the north of Frankfurt am Main, the fortification of the Lords of Eppstein projects from a spur of the Taunus mountains. 

The archbishop of Mainz, projecting his authority, deeded this territory to the noble line in the 10th century. This grace-and-favour had significant political and economic effects for the land in the following generations, the family rearing several of the archbishops over the years and whose elevated influence cooled tension between Pope and Emperor.

castle week: mecklenberg-vorpommern

The German Castle Route, the Burgenstraße, cuts a swath, intersected by other scenic routes, like the Romantic, Romanesque and the Half-Timbered Roads and others, from Mannheim on the banks of the Neckar River to Prague. I notice that a lot of our travels swarm around such trails. There are, however, many more hits off these main sequences.

We had a very nice holiday enjoying the Baltic beaches and natural wonders of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with the islands of Rügen and Usedom. The resorts and hotels fronting the shoreline and promenades were very picturesque and inviting whitewashed affairs, but we also had a chance to discover some more inland sites.

Sadly many traditional castles in the region are in sore need of care and have been more or less abandoned—though there has been renewed interest in such real-estate and preservation efforts. Crumbling castles are basically free to a good home. But not all was in disrepair and there were quite a few very nice manor houses and plantation estates, just beyond the sand dunes. Situated next to a grove of thousand year old oak trees (Eiche), the Baroque collection of buildings at Ivenack with castle and cloister. With a commanding view of island and lands beyond, the Granitz Hunting Lodge (Jagdschloss) is very impressive site.

A winding cast iron staircase hugs the tower walls and from the vantage point of the roof one is afforded a spectacular and strategic view of the former royal hunting grounds, now protected as a nature reserve. The tower also has a staggering collection of hunting rifles and trophies—contributions from the many guests entertained and hunting parties hosted. The state government invested a lot of funds to rehabilitate this building and turn it into a popular tourist-attraction, and hopefully this act can inspire the public to do more to save the region’s other historic, cultural, and natural wonders.

castle week: baden-württemberg

Writing a little bit on these themes has not only illustrated to me how difficult it must be to pick a representative landmark from such a diverse lot, despite whatever common-thread may connect them, but also shows what I’ve yet to experience first-hand and the sites and associated stories that I’ve only had the chance to touch upon just once and years prior and many places are definitely worth the trip to see again and anew.

The diverse land of Baden-Württemberg with Swabia, the Black Forest, Lake Constance (Bodensee) has a wealth of sites to offer, not the least being the paperweights of politics and trade of its ancient houses. Stuttgart was sometimes seat of the kings of Würrtemberg with its old and new castles located in the city centre and featured spectacles to impress, extravagance and decadence of courtly legend to help forge alliances.

To my mind, the partially restored castle of Heidelberg never constituted a ruin—though it was already regarded and esteemed as such, and a worthy attraction for hundreds of years prior—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Victor Hugo and Mark Twain and others mentioning it in their travel logs. There are actual two ruins—the upper fortification has mostly succumb to the heavily wooded hillside and was destroyed by lightning in 1537 and the lower structures by battles waged in the 30 Years’ War, a conflict with roots in the protestant reformation and the question of succession in France and the Holy Roman Empire (the tensions which courtiers in Stuttgart tried to placate), and another errant lightning bolt.

Surely, there is a lot of romanticism connected with ruins, like the shipwrecks of empire and ambition, and somehow what’s left untouched and in disrepair allows the stories to be more intact. It seems at least that more people had more to say about their impressions of Heidelberg castle than many others. The other sometimes royal residence of Würrtemberg’s rulers was located in the expansive Baroque palace in the Stuttgart suburb of Ludwigsburg, commissioned with the style and proximity to the urban capital as the Palace of Versailles has to Paris. Two other palatial estates are located on the palace grounds but the surrounding parks and gardens are so huge, noble neighbours would never disturb one another.

castle week: bavaria

Here are some of the two-euro pieces that Germany has issued. The series is not yet complete, I believe, and maybe the mint might consider some lesser known symbols to represent the other states. Though certainly well-known and instantly recognizable by the many visitors who flock there, choosing Schloss Neuschwanstein for Bayern does come at the exclusion but not dismissal of many other fine objects. Proximity, familiarity and the chance to explore, seeking out or finding by accident makes it seem like Bavaria is absolutely lousy with castles.

It is a decision not to be envied, as I think I could fill several weekly series of buildings just from this region of Bavaria, Franconia (Franken)—or equally so for Unterfranken, the Rhön, etc. Land-holders wanted to showcase and defend their power and wealth, especially in a kingdom full of intrigues and frustrated by overlapping profane and sacred jurisdictions and non-contiguous possessions. The fairy-tale castle of King Ludwig II is a relatively recent development, as far as castles and palaces go, and in County Schweinfurt there is the youngest castle in Bavaria and among the most contemporary in the world. Schloss Craheim is another idealization of what a stately residence ought to be and was commissioned just in 1908 on the occasion of the marriage of Cavalry Master Baron Steward of Wetzlar (Truchsess von und zu Wetzlar, rather a sine cure office) to an American industrial heiress, desirous of a more modern and personal home.

The grand Baroque- and Rococo-style construction was finished quickly but less than a decade before the conclusion of World War I, that saw the abdication of much of Europe’s nobility. In the neighbouring county of Haßberg by the small town of Ebern stands a palace that has enjoyed a much longer history and since the 1400s has remained in the same family. Descendants live in Schloss Eyrichofs among the grandeur of the ages. The only significant change was the draining of the moat and the surrounding lake to construct an English garden on the grounds, keeping to the style of the day.

Though somewhat overshadowed by the city’s fortifications above, Veste Coburg, the very British-looking manor of Ehrenburg has been witness to volumes of dynastic statecraft. Historically yoked to Gotha-Saxe-Coburg, the county of Coburg only chose to join the newly constituted free-state of Bavaria (rather than Thuringia) when the realm was dissolved following the war. Queen Victoria, whose mother also grew up in the ducal house, spend some time here with her husband Prince Albert and met a constellation of other ruling houses, whose introductions and match-making that echo through the decades. The Gothic Revival residence, for Victoria’s benefit, also underwent some modernization, having the first indoor plumbing, a water closet, and elevator on the continent installed.