Schloss Rügland

Schloss Rügland stands in the village of Rügland in Mittelfranken as a two-part water castle. The older part, the ‘Altes Schloss’, has a surviving north wing with half-timbered upper storey and a bridge leading to the gatehouse bearing the Crailsheim and Dölzkau arms. The newer part, the ‘Neues Schloss’, was built from 1714 by Hannibal Friedrich Freiherr von Crailsheim to designs by Karl Friedrich von Zocha. The Crailsheim family have owned the estate since 1584 and still live there in summer. The first floor of the ‘Neues Schloss’ houses a family museum with finds from the excavations at Burg Rosenberg and a painted ceiling of mythological scenes. A portrait gallery of nobles lines the Mittelsaal, while the chapel of St Elisabeth serves the local Catholic community. Visitors walk across the historic bridge into the inner courtyard lined with stone balustrades. Sandstone statues of Venus, Amor, Mars, Zeus, Herkules and Flora by the master craftsman Sommer from Künzelsau stand among the greenery. The surviving wing of the ‘Altes Schloss’ contains the old guardroom and the chapel, while the surrounding park offers quiet paths beneath trees planted long ago.