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Heldburg Fortress (german: Veste Heldburg) is a high medieval hilltop castle. In the 16th century it was rebuilt into a renaissance castle. It rises on a former volcanic region to '
Heldburger Gangschar' counted, 405-metre-high volcanic cone, 113 metres above the town of
Heldburg
Heldburg is a town and a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Hildburghausen (district), district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. The municipality was created with effect from 1 January 2019 by the merger of the former municipal ...
in the
Heldburger Land
The Heldburger Land was the historical, Saxon, administrative district (''Amtsbezirk'') of Heldburg (borough of Heldburg) and is today the southernmost part of the Free State of Thuringia and the district of Hildburghausen, between the towns of Co ...
, the southern tip of the district
Hildburghausen
Hildburghausen ( IPA adapted from: ) is a town in Thuringia in central Germany, capital of the district Hildburghausen.
Geography
It is situated in the Franconian part of Thuringia south of the Thuringian Forest, in the valley of the Werra riv ...
in
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
. The Veste Heldburg (also called the "Franconian light"), once a secondary residence and hunting lodge of the Dukes of Coburg, dominates the little town of Heldburg on the Thuringian border with Bavaria. From it can be seen across the Thuringian border the sister-castle
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 ...
, (also called the "Franconian crown"), once the residence of the Dukes of Coburg, now located in Bavaria.
At the beginning of the 14th Century the hilltop castle was owned by the Counts of Henneberg-Schleusingen and served as the administrative and judicial seat after the regional power center on Struphe castle (now in ruins Straufhain nearby Streufdorf) was abandoned. In 1374 the Veste Heldburg came into the possession of the Wettin family. Johann Friedrich the Middle had it reconstructed in 1560 by his court architect
Nikolaus Gromann
Nikolaus Gromann (c. 1500 – 29 November 1566) was an architect of the German Renaissance who served at the court of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony. He also worked for John Frederick's descendants residing in the cities of Weimar, Got ...
in the style of the Renaissance (it was originally called the “Neuer Bau”, but today is known as the “Französischer Bau”) and removed the ducal residence. Gromann's important Renaissance buildings include in addition to the aforementioned “Französischer Bau”, the “Französisches Schloss” (now the “Duchess Anna Amalia Library”) in Weimar and the City Hall of Altenburg..
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 ...
(Saxe-Coburg) used the castle as a hunting lodge for decades. On the occasion of his marriage (nuptials) with
Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg in September 1599 numerous guests of the Duke stayed here, including beside the bride Princess Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg Margrave Georg Friedrich I (Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach), Duke Ernst II (Braunschweig-Lüneburg), Duke Wilhelm Kettler of Courland and Semigallians and Duke Johann Ernst (Sachsen-Eisenach), each with their entourage.
After several conquests and plundering during the Thirty Years' War the castle was held in 1776 and re-attached residence of the Ernestine dukes of
Saxe-Hildburghausen
Saxe-Hildburghausen () was an Ernestine duchy in the southern side of the present State of Thuringia in Germany. It existed from 1680 to 1826 but its name and borders are currently used by the District of Hildburghausen.
History
After the Duk ...
and finally in 1871 became the property of the ducal house of Meiningen. Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen restored extensively the building during 1874-1898 lived in it from time to time since May 1877 with his third wife Helene, ''Freifrau von Heldburg'' (born
Ellen Franz
Ellen Franz (30 May 1839 – 24 March 1923) was a German pianist and actress.
Biography
Early life
She was born in Berlin. According to Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt, Ellen Franz made her first appearance in the ''Hoftheater'' of Meiningen ...
).
The castle is currently being renovated with the aim of setting up the
Deutsches Burgenmuseum
The German Castle Museum (german: Deutsches Burgenmuseum) is a history museum at Heldburg Fortress in the region of Heldburger Land and in the county of Hildburghausen in the German state of Thuringia.
The exhibition contains a wealth of infor ...
, which is planned to open in 2015.
Website des Museums mit Angabe des geplanten Termins
accessed 5. October 2013.
On September 8, 2016, the German castle museum was opened on the Veste Heldburg.
See also
* E. Fritze: Die Veste Heldburg. Jena 1903, Reprint: Frankenschwelle, Hildburghausen 1990,
* Norbert Klaus Fuchs: Das Heldburger Land–ein historischer Reiseführer; Verlag Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza 2013,
Notes
{{Authority control
Castles in Thuringia
Buildings and structures in Hildburghausen (district)