"Ruhlaer Häuschen" - a look into the past
The Ruhlaer Häuschen is today the name given to the crossroads near Ruhla on the Rennsteig between the meadows of the Schlauchental, the Ottowaldwiese and the Sallmannshäuser Rennsteig. However, it is not the small shelter at the crossroads that gives the name.
The history of the name goes back a long way.
Around 1743, Duke Ernst August I of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach had the old hunting buildings torn down in order to build a hunting lodge.
The master builder was Gottfried Heinrich Krohne, whose architectural achievements are today reflected in the Belvedere and Ettersburg palaces (near Weimar), Wilhelmsthal (near Eisenach) and Molsdorf (near Erfurt), the Eisenach city palace and the New Palace of the Dornburg palaces. From 1745, Ernst August I had the construction of a pleasure palace complex with a fountain, a garden and park, a bird feeder, a water reservoir and individual standing Renovate and expand pavilions. It was planned to complete the construction in the spring of 1748.
The Duke died in January 1748. Since the country was heavily in debt, the construction could not be finally completed. The majority of the almost finished buildings fell into disrepair or were sold for demolition. Only one stable wing was used as housing for forestry employees. At the beginning of the 19th century, the place where the magnificent little palace had stood was desolate. Today, not much is recognizable. Only leveling and embankment edges mark the area of the historical buildings.
As part of a bachelor's thesis at the Erfurt University of Applied Sciences, specializing in forestry and ecosystem management, the history of the "Ruhlaer Häuschen" was investigated in 2020. As a result of the work, the formerly built-up area on the Rennsteig was entered into the Thuringian monument book by the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology.
(...from information board)