Ahaus Castle

The Baroque Ahaus Palace is a former residential palace of the Prince-Bishops of Münster in Ahaus in western Münsterland.

The moated castle is located directly in the city center, adjacent to which is the new pedestrian zone of Ahaus with the market square and the tourist information center.

The castle, built at the beginning of the 11th century, fell from the noblemen of Ahaus in 1406 to the prince-bishop of Münster, Otto IV. Von Hoya. On October 4, 1650, Prince-Bishop of Münster Christoph Bernhard von Galen visited Ahaus. At his instigation, the first German faience manufacture was founded in Ahaus in 1653, but closed again in 1657. In 1688, the old castle was demolished on the instructions of Prince-Bishop Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg. The new building in the form of a baroque moated castle was carried out according to the plans of Ambrosius von Oelde and was completed in 1690. The entire complex, including the palace gardens, was not completed until 1718. [1] When the work was completed, the new building had cost around 100,000 thalers. [2] After being destroyed in the Seven Years' War, Johann Conrad Schlaun added a central projection in the garden front with a large, double flight of stairs from 1765 to 1767. The castle served the prince-bishops of Münster as a summer residence. The Prince-Bishops Johann IV of Osnabrück, Christoph Bernhard von Galen and Franz Arnold von Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht died in Ahaus Castle.

If you are in Ahaus, you cannot miss the castle. It is possible to drive around the castle once. Then a rest in the nearby pedestrian zone. There are great ice cream parlors there.