Ehrenburg Palace (German: ''Schloss Ehrenburg'') is a palace in

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It served as the main Coburg residence for the ruling princes from the 1540s until 1918. The palace's exterior today mostly reflects Gothic Revival style.

History

The palace was built by Johann Ernst,

Duke of Saxe-Coburg Saxe-Coburg (german: Sachsen-Coburg) was a duchy held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin, Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany. History Ernestine Line When Henry IV, Count of Henneberg – Schleusingen, d ...

, in 1543–7. It replaced the

Veste Coburg The Veste Coburg (Coburg Fortress) is one of the best-preserved medieval fortresses of Germany. It is situated on a hill above the town of Coburg, in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria. Geography Location Veste Coburg dominates the town of C ...

as the dukes' town ''

Residenz Residenz () is a German word for "place of living", now obsolete except in the formal sense of an official residence. A related term, Residenzstadt, denotes a city where a sovereign ruler resided, therefore carrying a similar meaning as the modern ...

''. The new town palace was built around a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

monastery dissolved during

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. According to tradition, the palace was named ''Ehrenburg'' ("Palace of Honour") by

Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) ...

for having been constructed without the use of forced labour. Under Duke

Johann Casimir John Casimir, Count Palatine of Simmern (German: ''Johann Casimir von Pfalz-Simmern'') (7 March 1543 – Brockhaus Geschichte Second Edition) was a German prince and a younger son of Frederick III, Elector Palatine. A firm Calvinist, he was a lea ...

the first major rebuilding took place. Around 1590 the (still extant) south wing was constructed by the Renaissance architect Michael Frey. In 1690, a fire destroyed the northern part of the palace. This was an opportunity for Albert V, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, who had a new

Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

palace built in 1699. The construction of a new chapel in the west wing, the east wing and the central part of the building gave the Ehrenburg the basic structure it retains today. In the 19th century, Ernst I had the palace redesigned by

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassica ...

in English

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style, beginning in 1810. Most of the work took place between 1816 and 1840, with the palace façade clothed in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

Also between 1816 and 1840 the state apartments were redesigned in the

French Empire style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...

. Because the palace was the home of the ducal

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (; german: Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) is a European royal house. It takes its name from its oldest domain, the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, its members later sat on the thrones of Belgium, Bu ...

(previously Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld), many royal occasions happened here. In 1863,

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

(whose mother, Princess Victoria, and husband, Prince Albert, grew up here) met Austrian

Emperor Franz Josef Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

for the first time in the Hall of Giants (a sign marks the occasion). In 1894, the wedding of

Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse , spouses = , issue = , house = Hesse-Darmstadt , father = Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine , mother =Princess Alice of the United Kingdom , birth_date = , birth_place = New Palace, Darmstadt, Gran ...

and

Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , later Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia (25 November 1876 – 2 March 1936), was the third child and second daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and of Grand Duchess M ...

brought together, at the palace, Queen Victoria, her son the future King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

, her grandson the future King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

, her daughter German Empress Victoria, her other grandson Kaiser

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...

, her son's nephew the future Tsar

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...

(with her granddaughter, future Tsarina Alexandra), and many other royalty from England, Greece, Belgium, Romania, Portugal, Brazil and elsewhere.

Today

The palace is used as a museum today. Among other exhibits, it features art galleries with works by

Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder (german: Lucas Cranach der Ältere ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is know ...

, Dutch and Flemish artists of the 16th and 17th centuries as well as Romantic landscape paintings.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Gothic Revival architecture in Germany Palaces in Bavaria Museums in Bavaria Historic house museums in Germany Buildings and structures in Coburg House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Royal residences in Bavaria