Topic summary
Balthasar Castle
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Europa-Park.
Background and founding
In 1958, Franz Mack (1921–2010) took over the family firm, Mack GmbH & Co. KG (now Mack Rides), together with his brothers. Along with his son Roland Mack (born 1949), he visited the US in 1972 and was inspired to open a theme park in Germany as an exhibition site for his company's built amusement rides, including flat rides, dark rides, log flumes, tow boat rides and roller coasters. At first, the park was planned to be located in Breisach. It was named "Europa-Park" after Breisach's nearby Europaweiher, a small artificial lake which commemorates a historical pilot poll held in Breisach in 1950, in which 95.6% of voters were in favor of European unification. The Breisach site was deemed unsuitable because of flooding hazard, and the project moved some 30 kilometres (19 mi) further north, where the Macks bought the park of the Balthasar castle in Rust. An adjacent fairy-tale park was acquired as an additional site.