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Itinerary: Castles & Palaces
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Until unification in 1871, Germany was a mosaic of fiefdoms whose overseers ruled from the comfort of their Schloss (palace) or Burg (castle).
A sentimental favourite among Germans is Wartburg in Eisenach, where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German. Equally impressive is Saxony’s Festung Königstein overlooking the Elbe and so big, bold and formidable that nobody ever dared attack it. Appealing to more refined tastes are sublime Schloss Sanssouci and Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin. Both are impressive residences of the Prussian Hohenzollern clan and surrounded by their own park. The family’s ancestral seat – Burg Hohenzollern – is some 700km southwest near Tübingen. Looking medieval and mysterious, it’s actually a 19th-century neo-Gothic confection, the original long having been destroyed.
A similar fate befell Schloss Heidelberg, although much of it survives as a romantic ruin. For more romance, visit the robber barons’ hang-outs along the Romantic Rhine, especially the rambling Burg Rheinfels and the pristine Marksburg which, like the fairy-tale Burg Eltz near the Moselle, has never been destroyed. Germany’s most famous palace may be Schloss Neuschwanstein, but King Ludwig II’s more playful Schloss Linderhof and Schloss Herrenchiemsee are even nicer. Another major Bavarian delight is the Würzburg Residenz, a baroque confection by star builder Balthasar Neumann.
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