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Germany
Thuringia
Landkreis Weimarer Land

Red Castle (Rotes Schloss), Weimar

Discover
Places to see

Castles

Germany
Thuringia
Landkreis Weimarer Land

Red Castle (Rotes Schloss), Weimar

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Red Castle (Rotes Schloss), Weimar

Recommended by 132 hikers out of 146

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    Location: Landkreis Weimarer Land, Thuringia, Germany

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    Best Hikes to Red Castle (Rotes Schloss), Weimar

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    1. Weimar Market Square – Belvedere Palace Weimar loop from Weimar Berkaer Bahnhof

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    2. Weimar Market Square – Goethe's Garden House loop from Weimar

    7.40km

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    4.8

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    3. Belvedere Palace Weimar – Weimar Market Square loop from Taubach

    14.5km

    03:50

    140m

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    Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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    Moderate

    Tips

    August 9, 2021

    The Red Castle was built from 1574 to 1576 as the widow's seat of the Duchess Dorothea Susanne (1544-1592). The Renaissance portal contains the alliance coat of arms of the Duchess, born of the Palatinate, and Duke Johann Wilhelm I of Weimar-Eisenach (1530-1573).

    Subsequently, members of the princely family and the court lived in the Red Palace, from 1702 to 1703 also the chamber musician and court organist Johann Sebastian Bach. The building complex later housed public facilities. The Secret Conseil, to which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe belonged since 1776, met in the west wing. The court marshal's office, the administration of justice and the state administration were housed here. The Princely Free Drawing School was located in the east wing between 1781 and 1807. In the course of the generous redesign of Fürstenplatz (today Platz der Demokratie), Duke Carl August ordered the demolition of the east wing in 1808. It was not until 1820 that the gap in front of the wooden stables of the Red Castle was closed. The classicist blind arcades were designed by the court architect Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray. They formed an ensemble with a residential palace, princely house (today the University of Music) and (Duchess Anna Amalia) library.

    Today the Red Castle houses the research library and the modern study center of the
    Duchess Anna Amalia Library.
    SOURCE: weimar-lese.de

    Translated by Google •

      February 21, 2024

      The Red Castle with its towering Renaissance gables was built between 1574 and 1576 as the city palace of the Dowager Duchess Dorothea Susanne of Saxony-Weimar. The elaborately designed portal shows the family connections with its coat of arms. Dorethea Susanne was born Princess of the Palatinate. The large coat of arms in the middle therefore shows the Electoral Palatinate coat of arms with the heart shield of the Duchy of Saxony placed in the middle. This middle coat of arms is surrounded by the individual coats of arms of the Saxon Wettin dynasty, including: Duchy of Saxony, Margraviate of Meißen, Landgraviate of Thuringia..., even if the Ernestine line of the Wettiners only controlled a small part of the Wettin territory during Dorothea Susanne's lifetime.

      Translated by Google •

        May 28, 2025

        The Red Castle is an elongated, three-story Renaissance building with several bay windows, a main façade with three pilaster strips and scroll-decorated gables, and an inner courtyard with a stair tower.
        Historically, it was the former widow's residence of Duchess Dorothea Susanne (1544-1592).
        The Renaissance portal bears the alliance coat of arms of Duchess Dorothea Susanne, née of the Palatinate, and Duke Johann Wilhelm I of Weimar-Eisenach (1530-1573).

        Translated by Google •

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          Elevation 280 m

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          Location: Landkreis Weimarer Land, Thuringia, Germany

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