The hunting armory at Kranichsteiner Straße 253 is a building in Darmstadt-Kranichstein that belonged to the area of the Kranichstein hunting lodge of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. It is a cultural monument for architectural, hunting history and city history reasons.
The hunting armory now houses the "bioversum Jagdschloß Kranichstein", a museum of biodiversity and biological invasions using the example of local habitats. The focus is on the red beech forest. There are further interactive discovery stations in the outdoor area enclosed by the old wall. There is also a restaurant and a conference hotel in the building today.
The hunting armory was built between 1688 and 1690. Stylistically, the building is Baroque. The builder was Landgrave Ernst Ludwig. As an armory, it was specifically intended for the storage of objects and animals for the lordly hunt or, according to the Grimm dictionary, "for the storage of high, medium and small hunting equipment".
The two-storey building was made of rubble stone and had a slate-covered mansard roof. The hunting armoury is 112 metres long, 10 metres wide and has 25 window axes. The ground floor consisted of a single, continuous stable. The stable was accessed through two gates at the front of the house. On the northern gable side there is a large antler on the gable.
On the ground floor - of the house built at the time of par force hunting - the wagons stood and the horses rested. On the upper floor were the bedrooms of the hunters and servants. Under the high, airy mansard roof hung the so-called hunting rags, which were used for set hunting. The saying "to go through the rags" refers to these rags for the Lapp hunt, a specific form of driven hunt or battue.
Source: Wikipedia