Braunfels Castle

Braunfels Castle in the morning mist

Braunfels Castle (2013)

Situated atop a basalt hill, Braunfels Castle (German: Schloss Braunfels) overlooks the spa town of Braunfels in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Hesse, Germany. Since the 13th century, it has served as the residence and seat of government for the Counts, and later Princes, of Solms-Braunfels. Remarkably, the castle remains in the possession of the family to this day, now under the stewardship of the Counts of Oppersdorff-Solms-Braunfels.

Braunfels Castle commands the surrounding landscape, extending its presence deep into the Lahn Valley, and serves as a scenic and cultural counterpart to Schaumburg Castle in the lower Lahn Valley. In the 19th century, the castle was extensively remodeled in the Gothic Revival style, characterized by the deliberate use of distinctive forms. As a result, Braunfels Castle stands as an exceptional example of the romantic and historicist architecture of that period in Germany.

Today, the Princely family has opened the castle to the public to visit. Also, the castle serves as a filming location.

Name

Braunfels means brown rock in German.

History

Middle Ages

Schloss Braunfels on an engraving by Matthäus Merian

Braunfels Castle (2016)

The castle was first mentioned in a document in 1246 as castellum brunenvelz. Originally a defensive fortress against the Counts of Nassau, it became the residence of the Counts of Solms from 1280 onwards. After the division of family estates into three branches and the destruction of the ancestral castle of Solms by the Rhenish Towns League, Braunfels Castle became the new ancestral seat of the Counts of Solms-Braunfels in 1384, the only surviving line of the three. By 1418, it had inherited all the property. After further divisions and reunifications, this line still exists today.

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, extensive expansions of the main castle took place. Count Otto II had the medieval castle expanded into a fortress around 1500, with the late Gothic castle church from this phase still preserved. An engraving by August Rumpf, depicted by Matthäus Merian in his Topographia Hassiae of 1655, provides insight into the condition of the castle before its Baroque transformation, which started in 1680.

Thirty Year’s War

Entrance to Schloss Braunfels from the town

A view through the castle gates

During the Thirty Years' War, Braunfels Castle was contested and heavily damaged. Due to his support for Frederick V, the Winter King, Count Johann Albrecht I of Solms-Braunfels was placed under Imperial ban, and in 1621, the castle was taken without resistance by Spanish troops on behalf of the emperor. In 1629, Count Philipp Moritz of Hohensolms successfully besieged Braunfels town and castle.

In 1630, Emperor Ferdinand II bestowed Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly with the castle. In 1632, Swedish troops captured the castle, only to lose it again to the imperial forces in 1634. A year later, in 1635, count Louis Henry of Nassau-Dillenburg seized the castle in a surprise attack. In 1640, after a siege, the troops of Bernard of Saxe-Weimar in French service captured the castle, but Count Johann Albrecht II of Solms-Braunfels regained control in 1641.

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels by Michiel van Mierevelt

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels (1602–1675), born at Braunfels Castle, was the tenth of thirteen children of Count Johann Albrecht I of Solms-Braunfels and Countess Agnes zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. Due to the Thirty Years' War, she and her family fled to the Netherlands, where she married Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange in 1625. She acted as the political adviser of her spouse during his reign, and acted as his de facto deputy and regent during his infirmity from 1640 to 1647. She also served as chair of the regency council during the minority of her grandson William III, Prince of Orange from 1650 until 1672. Through strategic marriages, she significantly increased her influence across Europe. Her son William III married Mary Stuart and became King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702. Other daughters married into notable families, including Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg.

She transformed the court in The Hague into a European cultural center. Amalia's legacy includes her political prowess and architectural commissions like the palace of Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. She is remembered as a significant European figure with deep ties to Braunfels.

Baroque transformation

Braunfels Castle by Johannes Deiker (1845)

Count Hendrik Trajectinus (1636 – 1693) was a Dutch States Army officer and supported his cousin, William of Orange, during his invasion of England as part of the Glorious Revolution. Under his command, a contingent of the Blue Guards was the first to enter London, securing it for William. He later accompanied William, now King William III of England, on his Irish campaign in 1690, participating in the Battle of the Boyne, a decisive victory over the Irish Army of James II.

Hendrik Trajectinus transformed Braunfels castle into a Baroque style palace, though it was destroyed in a major city fire in 1679. His successor, Count Wilhelm Moritz (1651–1724), managed to rebuild it quickly at the start of the 18th century. However, his and architect Johann Philipp Meyer’s ambitious plans for a large Baroque palace around 1720 were never fully realized.

Wilhelm Moritz’s son, Frederick William (1696–1761), became the 1st Prince of Solms-Braunfels, elevated to this imperial rank by Emperor Charles VII on May 22, 1742. Due to poor health, Frederick William did not govern extensively, but he succeeded in arranging advantageous marriages for his children, securing alliances with powerful families across the country.

19th century

Braunfels Castle by Alexander Duncker around 1866

Braunfels Castle (2014)

In 1806, the principality of Solms-Braunfels was mediatised and its territories became part of the Duchy of Nassau. In 1815, the principality became part of the Rhine province of Prussia. However, the castle remained in the hands of the princely family, and continued to be seat of the princely government from 1828 to 1848.

Around 1840, 4th Prince Ferdinand (1797-1873) carried out neo-Gothic alterations and restorations. In the spirit of Romanticism, with the aim of reviving the Middle Ages, an idealized fantasy castle was created, unlike anything that had existed in the actual Middle Ages. The model for this work was the renovation of Rheinstein Castle in the spirit of the Rhine romanticism. Prince Ferdinand was closely befriended to Rheinstein's owner, prince Frederick of Prussia. At the same time, Prince Ferdinand had the Diana Castle built near Greifenstein as a hunting lodge.

From 1880, under the 6th Prince George (1836-1891) and his wife princess Emanuela, a second keep, extensions, and additions of oriels and small towers in the style of historicism were added to Braunfels castle. Architects Edwin Oppler, Hugo von Ritgen, and Rudolf Wiegmann, influenced by figures like Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Émile and Paul Boeswillwald, guided the construction.

Von Oppersdorff-Solms-Braunfels

Schloss Braunfels (2016)

The main branch of the princely House of Solms-Braunfels became extinct, when Georg Frederick Victor, the 7th prince, passed away in 1970. The castles in Braunfels and Hungen including their agricultural and forest estates were inherited by the last Prince's daughter, Maria Gabrielle of Solms-Braunfels (1918−2003), and her husband Hans Georg Count von Oppersdorff (1920−2003). Since 1969, they and their offspring bear the name Count/Countess von Oppersdorff-Solms-Braunfels, with consent of the Hessian Ministry of the Interior. Count Hans Georg managed the estate for over 50 years, overseeing the renovation, restoration, and upkeep of the castle, its inventory, and its associated buildings.

Architecture

Aerial view of Braunfels Castle

Floor plan of Schloss Braunfels

Braunfels Castle and the town

Due to its long construction history, the exterior of the castle remained stylistically quite heterogeneous until the last major renovation. Since that renovation, completed in 1885, much of the complex exhibits the style of Historicism. The main elements are:

The core castle from the 13th century, featuring the boundary watchtower ("Friedrichsturm"), the keep ("Alter Stock"), the palas, and the shield wall. Despite later alterations, Romanesque style elements are still clearly visible, such as the massive masonry with round-arched biforas with an overarching arch, a central column with leaf capitals.

Extensions, including an outer bailey and battlements to the east toward the town (the attack side): the "Unterste Pforte" gate from around 1350, the middle gate tower from around 1460 (with a Baroque upper structure and its conversion into a bell tower in 1682), the upper castle gate with a pointed arch portal from 1491; the Ottonian building ("Fürstenbau", around 1500), and the castle church, a three-nave hall church built above the galleries of the upper zwinger (probably consecrated in 1501, with wall paintings from 1504).

Baroque additions: the "Neutor" (Archive Gate) in the northwest, the entrance building (gatehouse to the castle courtyard), the Long Building (south of the New Keep), the Weeden Building, as well as the stables, castle guardhouse, and barracks (first erected just before the great city fire of 1679 and later reconstructed). In the Historicist style: notably the "Georg Tower" (across from today's castle café) and the heightening of the now-tallest tower of the castle, the New Keep with its flanking turrets (1884).

Due to the continuous renovations, even the older buildings underwent constant changes. For instance, in the 19th century, the Alter Stock, the Palas, and the north tower were adorned with crenellations, and open spaces between previously isolated structures were enclosed.

The Castle Interior

The castle can be visited through guided tours. The main sections are the stately rooms, the collections from the Altenberg Monastery, and the museum dedicated to the princely family.

Stately Rooms

A view into the courtyard

Braunfels Castle by Johannes Deiker

The furniture and art collections of the princely Solms-Braunfels family span from the 13th to the 19th century.

The "Knight's Hall", restored in the 19th century, is located in the medieval palace. It displays swords, polearms, firearms, and armour for warriors and horses from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period. Among the oldest items are a Gothic sword and a Chain mail shirt from the Crusades, made from 60,000 small rings (requiring one to two years of craftsmanship to make). Armor from the Maximilian era likely originates from Milan.

In the Staircase Room and the Painting’s Gallery, oil paintings are displayed: mainly family portraits, mythological, and allegorical scenes—by Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and German masters from the Renaissance to Classicism. At the centre of the Staircase room stands a bust of Frederick III, German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days between March and June 1888, during the Year of the Three Emperors.

The Tapestry Room features five Flemish tapestries from around 1600, depicting hunting and pastoral scenes. The fireplace dates to 1674 and comes from the Aßlar ironworks.

A highlight of the art collection is the Flemish Room, with portraits, seascapes, and genre scenes by artists such as Adriaen van de Velde, Jan Miense Molenaer, and Adriaen van Ostade. Another fireplace from Aßlar is also found here.

The Tischbein Room is named after the Tischbein family of painters, who worked for the Counts of Solms across several generations in the 18th century. Additional portraits, hunting scenes, and genre paintings are displayed in the Deiker Gallery (court painter to Prince Ferdinand from 1843 to 1868), the Blue Salon, and the Pink Salon. Family antiques in the state rooms include vases of East Asian origin, as well as pieces from St. Petersburg and Berlin porcelain manufactories. A small glass collection is also exhibited in a showcase, featuring Venetian thread glasses and Römer glasses.

Altenberg Rooms

The so-called "Altenberg Rooms" house furnishings from the former Altenberg Monastery. When the monastery was secularized following the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, the Princes of Solms acquired its contents.

The Gothic Room contains a late Gothic altar and a Rhenish Madonna (circa 1400). A chest belonging to Gertrude of Aldenberg is also displayed, reportedly used to store items belonging to her mother, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. After the death of her husband, Landgrave Ludwig IV of Thuringia, in 1227, Elizabeth was forced to leave the Wartburg and became a nurse in a Franciscan hospital she had founded in 1229. She had to entrust her four-year-old daughter Gertrud to the care of Altenberg Monastery, under the direction of her confessor, Conrad of Marburg.

More potential relics of Saint Elizabeth, dating back to the 13th century, are housed in the adjacent Paraments Room. While it is impossible to verify whether the silver jug from which Elizabeth supposedly served wine to the sick or the ring—reportedly a gift from the Landgrave, with a large oval stone said to have shattered at the moment of his death—truly belonged to Elizabeth, these items fuel the historical narrative and legends surrounding Braunfels Castle.

The Altenberg Altar, dating from around 1330, is considered the work of an unknown master. This winged altar with Gothic tracery originally housed a Madonna and Child sculpture from the second half of the 14th century.

Princely Family Museum

The Princely Family Museum, located in the Long Building (accessible individually via coin-operated entry), contains additional collections of weapons and art, coins, medals, clothing, and a collection of Bohemian glass owned by the Princes of Solms. It also features a prehistoric section, the result of collaboration around 1815 between the 3rd Prince Wilhelm (1759-1837) and archivist Jakob-Carl Schaum, who was in frequent correspondence with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

One of the most curious finds is a fertility god from the 3rd millennium BC, unearthed in 1959 near Kraftsolms, of a type typically found in Asia Minor. Other family antiques include a collection of Meissen porcelain, Bohemian glass, sculptures, and silverware.

The Castle Terraces

The bronze cannons at the terraces of Schloss Braunfels

To the north is the battery, where four bronze cannons from the 16th century are displayed. From the terrace, the view extends far to the southeast, beyond the old town of Braunfels and into the surrounding countryside.

Park and Gardens

Nestled in a woodland and park landscape that extends widely to the north and west of the castle, there is a hilly and technically challenging 18-hole golf course, designed in 1971 by Bernhard von Limburger. The course features historic trees, and natural ponds serve as water hazards. The clubhouse is a renovated half-timbered building.

Literature

• Losse, Michael (2007). Burgen und Schlösser an der Lahn. Von Biedenkopf und Marburg über Gießen, Wetzlar und Weilburg bis Limburg, Nassau und Lahnstein (in German). Petersberg: Imhof Verlag. pp. 69–74. ISBN 978-3-86568-070-9.
• Graf von Oppersdorff Solms-Braunfels, Johannes; Schlagetter-Bayertz, Peter (2009). Schloss Braunfels (in German). Braunfels. ISBN 978-3-939609-66-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Schellenberg, Karl-Heinz (1990). Braunfelser Chronik (in German). Braunfels: Magistrat der Stadt Braunfels.
• Schellenberg, Karl-Heinz (1982). Schloss Braunfels – Große Baudenkmäler (in German). Vol. 309. München: Deutscher Kunstverlag.
• Karl-Heinz Schellenberg: Schloss Braunfels im Naturpark Hochtaunus (= Institut für Naturschutz. Schriftenreihe. 11, 1, ISSN 0416-7465). Unveränderter Nachdruck der 2. Auflage. Verlag Institut für Naturschutz, Darmstadt 1974.
• Peter Schlagetter-Bayertz: Schloss Braunfels: 150 Jahre Rittersaal. In: Heimatjahrbuch für das Land an der Dill im Lahn-Dill-Kreis. Bd. 40, 1997, ISSN 0939-5180, S. 279–289, (Digitalisat (PDF; 2,14 MB)).
• Peter Schlagetter-Bayertz: Schloss Braunfels: Gestalt und Darstellungen im Wandel der Zeiten. In: Heimatjahrbuch für den Lahn-Dill-Kreis. Bd. 6, 1996, ISSN 0939-5180, S. 41–52.
• Peter Schlagetter-Bayertz: Streifzug durch die Geschichte von Schloss Braunfels. In: Heimatjahrbuch für den Lahn-Dill-Kreis. Bd. 2, 1992, S. 245–260.
• Peter Schlagetter-Bayertz: Die Türme und Türmchen von Schloss Braunfels. In: Heimatjahrbuch für das Land an der Dill im Lahn-Dill-Kreis. Bd. 53, 2010, S. 212–224.
• Seiler, Carl (1936). Schloss Braunfels einst und jetzt. Ein Führer durch 8 Jahrhunderte (in German). Braunfels: Fürst zu Solms-Braunfels'sche Verwaltung.

External links

• "Welcome to Braunfels Castle (the official website of Braunfels Castle)". www.schloss-braunfels.de (in German and English). Retrieved 21 October 2024.