Teutonic Order Castle Bad Mergentheim

Impressive castle, with beautiful park

The castle of Mergentheim was from 1527 to 1809 residence of the high and German masters of the Teutonic Order. In 1996, the Deutschordensmuseum was reopened on an area of ​​around 3000 square meters. With works of art, models, objects and texts, the history of the Teutonic Order from the beginnings of 1190 until today, its work in the Holy Land, in Prussia and in the Holy Roman Empire is vividly depicted.

An impression of the former Teutonic Knights can be found in the princely rooms of the castle. From the moving history of the castle from the Renaissance bear witness to Berwarttreppe and pillared hall, from the Rococo Götterzimmer and Neue Fürstenwohnung, from the Classicism Kapitelsaal and the Hauptstiege. The jewel of the residence is the castle church, to whose construction important artists such as Balthasar Neumann and François de Cuvilliès contributed.

The history of Bad Mergentheim is shown from the time as a Franconian settlement to the spa town. In addition, there is an exhibition consisting of medieval sculpture and panel painting, Exotica, faience, alabaster and marble reliefs of the Renaissance and Baroque, precious small furniture, crafts and curiosa by Baron Carl Joseph von Adelsheim, and a collection of 40 doll kitchens, parlors and - houses and shops (19th / 20th century) in the castle. In the department of city history is the Mörike Cabinet. It is dedicated to u.a. the seven-year stay of the Swabian poet.
Source: bad-mergentheim.de/de/freizeitgestaltung/museen/deutschordensmuseum-id_1327

The first records of the construction of a small house chapel on the site of today's castle church date from 1249. The first church was built just a few years later. In 1730, Grand Master Franz-Ludwig decided to rebuild the castle church, which gave the castle church its present-day appearance.