エッシェンベルゲンの洞窟・トップ8

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We took part in a guided tour – very impressive and highly recommended!

Built in 1729 in the Baroque style, it was primarily used as a hunting lodge and guesthouse in the 18th century, and an English landscaped garden with a lake was created around the castle. Today, the castle is privately owned and houses several residential units. The fenced castle garden is open to the public only for special occasions.

A beautiful, small park with an idyllic pond and a nice place for a rest.

Here my path led past the castle.

Even today, the halls and rooms have largely been preserved in their original form and design in the style of high baroque and early classicism. In addition, the facilities and holdings have been in the same place for centuries. The world-famous collections can thus be experienced in their authentic location, which also includes the museum building, extensive parkland and various outbuildings. https://youtu.be/LA6scEcgqdA (Source: https://www.stiftung-friedenstein.de/schloss-friedenstein)

On a hill above Gotha, surrounded by a park and orangery garden, stands the imposing Friedenstein Castle, one of the best-preserved monuments of the early Baroque period. Ernst I (1601 - 1675), Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, had this residence built between 1643 and 1654. It was never destroyed. The newly founded Duchy of Saxe-Gotha (from 1672 with Altenburg) emerged from inheritance divisions in 1640. Ernst I, the founder of that line of the Ernestine dynasty - a branch of the Wettins - chose Gotha as his residence. Here, during the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648), he had the castle built on the ruins of Grimmenstein Castle. In view of the horrors of war, Ernst I gave the mighty four-wing complex the symbolic name "Friedenstein". To the north, facing the city, is the four-storey main wing with the ducal apartments and the castle church, which is connected to two three-storey side wings. These lead to two four-storey pavilion buildings in the south, between which there was originally a single-storey riding hall, which was demolished in the 18th century. In addition to the apartments for the ruler and the court, the residence also housed the administration, the military, the library, archive and collections from the beginning. Thanks to its unusual size, the castle did not require any structural extension in the following centuries, meaning that no significant changes were made to the building. (Source: https://www.stiftung-friedenstein.de/schloss-friedenstein)

Here you can see the spacious inner courtyard of Friedenstein Castle.