Schloss Messelhausen

Schloss Messelhausen stands in the village of Messelhausen, part of Tauberfranken in Baden-Württemberg. The present building is a Baroque palace built in the early 18th century on the site of a medieval fortress. The earlier castle had been a Hohenlohe stronghold with walls, moat and drawbridge, traces of which survive in the prison tower. The village and estate were first recorded in the early 13th century and passed through many hands before the Zobel family acquired them in the 16th century. The house is worth the journey for its layered history and surviving features. After destruction in the Thirty Years’ War and again in 1688, Johann Franz von Zobel rebuilt the site in 1699 and added a lake and bridge. The main palace was rebuilt between 1740 and 1744, though its heavy mansard roof soon caused cracks. In the 19th century Friedrich von Zobel restored the building, replacing the roof, adding two gatehouses and replanting the garden with exotic trees. In 1932 the Augustinian order took over and used the house as a study centre and parish base. Visitors find a compact Baroque ensemble of main palace, three farm buildings and an orangery. The prison tower from the medieval castle still stands beside the courtyard. The house chapel retains its original fittings from the 18th century. The surrounding park contains the lake, two fish basins with fountains and many introduced tree species planted in the 19th-century restoration. The gatehouses and laundry building date from that period, while the perimeter wall was rebuilt in the 1840s and 1850s. Today the former palace serves as a residential home for seniors.