Braunfels Castle
Situated atop a basalt hill, Braunfels Castle 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
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 Years' War
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
, 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 grandson 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
Count Hendrik Trajectinus 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. After the Count, the last member of the main Solms line, died in 1693, his successor and cousin Wilhelm Moritz, who lived in Greifenstein castle and belonged to the Greifenstein line of the Solms family, moved his residence to Braunfels. Wilhelm Moritz managed to rebuild it quickly at the start of the 18th century. In 1696, he designed the inner courtyard with a chessboard pattern, and in 1700 expanded the so-called Ottonische Bau. In 1704, he established the Braunfels game park. The Cabinettsbau—formerly the bakery, brewery, and administrative building —was enlarged and completed in 1712. 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. However, his and architect Johann Philipp Meyer's ambitious plans for a large Baroque palace with a huge glass dome were never fully realized. Probably part of the funding was realized out of the sale of the County of Tecklenburg to Prussia in 1707. Wilhelm Moritz had just received the county in 1699 after a 150-year legal process. 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.
But Wilhelm Moritz was not only focused on grandeur. As a ruler, he did much for his county, promoting the economy by founding iron works and factories. He also welcomed foreign manufacturers, merchants, and craftsmen—particularly Huguenots—into the county. He initiated the formation of guilds for tailors, bakers, coopers, brewers, and shepherds. Most notably, the town of Braunfels owes its beautiful, picturesque marketplace to him.
Wilhelm Moritz died on 9 February 1724, at the age of 73. His son, Frederick William, 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
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.Two reconstructions in the 19th century changed the appearance of the castle and created what some called the Hessian Neuschwanstein Castle:
Around 1840, 4th Prince Ferdinand 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.
The Knights' Hall was ceremoniously opened on 29 July 1847, exactly on Princess Ottilie's 40th birthday. Her husband, Prince Ferdinand, had achieved a truly special birthday gift, which also provided the perfect setting for the celebration.
Starting in 1880, under the 6th Prince George 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. 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. Through his mother's marriage, Prince George was the half-brother of King George V of Hanover, who built the neo-Gothic Welfenschloss in Hanover and Marienburg Castle, where Oppler was also involved, explaining the architect's connection to Braunfels Castle.
The topping of the new octagonal keep was celebrated on 2 July 1884. After its completion, the historicist expansion of Braunfels Castle was considered admirable: the castle was regarded by many as one of the most beautiful in the German countries.
Von Oppersdorff-Solms-Braunfels
The main branch of the princely House of Solms-Braunfels became extinct, when Georg Frederick Victor, the 7th prince, died 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, and her husband Hans Georg Count von Oppersdorff.The counts von Oppersdorff are originally an ancient German noble family, originated in Silesia, with their seat at Schloss Oberglogau in what is now Głogówek, Poland. 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.