Braunfels Castle
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.
[3] 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.
[3] 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.
[4] 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.
[citation needed] Hendrik Trajectinus transformed Braunfels castle into a Baroque style palace, though it was destroyed in a major city fire in 1679.
[5] Additionally, Wilhelm Moritz constructed the Lange Bau and the Entréebau, extending the complex westward with the Prinz-Albrecht-Bau to provide more living space for his growing family.
[5] However, his and architect Johann Philipp Meyer's ambitious plans (around 1720) for a large Baroque palace with a huge glass dome were never fully realized.
[6] For being able to push through this deal against his agnates, he was awarded the Order of the Black Eagle by King Frederick I of Prussia on 13 July 1707, and was appointed to the Privy Council.
[3] 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.
[7] Starting in 1880, under the 6th Prince George (1836-1891) and his wife, Princess Emanuela, Braunfels Castle underwent significant expansions in the style of historicism, including the addition of a second keep, oriels, and small towers.
[8] Architects Edwin Oppler, Hugo von Ritgen, and Rudolf Wiegmann—drawing inspiration from figures like Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, Émile, and Paul Boeswillwald—oversaw the construction.
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).
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.
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.
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).
Family antiques in the state rooms include vases of East Asian origin, as well as pieces from St. Petersburg and Berlin porcelain manufactories.
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.
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.
[citation needed] 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.
[3] 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.
Count Otto II of Solms had a new church in the late Gothic style built between 1491 and 1501, replacing the previous castle chapel.
The window behind the pastor's seat shows ornamental designs, with the cross in the center, surrounded by the crown of thorns and the Holy Scriptures featuring the letters A and O (‘Alpha’ and ‘Omega,’ Revelation 21:6, Luther Bible).
The painting depicts Count Bernhard III of Solms-Braunfels with his wife and children, kneeling beneath a Madonna (Mother of God, Mary with Child).
It was donated in 1785 by the 3th Prince Wilhelm Christian of Solms-Braunfels and his two sisters, Auguste and Luise, for their parents Ferdinand and Sophie, who had been buried in the family vault beneath the choir in 1783 and 1772.
On this occasion, the two coffins were moved from the vault and placed beneath two stone slabs made of blue marble in the choir, in front of the sarcophagus-altar.
In 1900, Gustav Raßmann moved it to its current location in the gallery, built the neo-Gothic case with tracery, and expanded it to include a second manual.
In the shallow niches of the tombstone, he is depicted dressed as a German knight, in accordance with the fashion of the time, with a sword at his left side and a dagger at his right.
Elisabeth stands to his left, wearing a modest convent dress, whose folds are considered a particularly well-executed work by the unknown artist.
To the right of the parents' tombstone, midship on the southern exterior wall of the church, is a richly carved wooden epitaph from 1587, decorated with fittings and coats of arms, dedicated to one son and four daughters of Count Conrad and Elisabeth, who died in childhood from smallpox.
The princes and counts of Braunfels continued to exercise their rights as patrons of the Protestant community in Christian fellowship, even after the house returned to Catholicism in 1950.
