Schloss Laubach

Schloss Laubach stands in the small town of Laubach in central Hesse. It is a medieval castle with three linked horseshoe-shaped wings and four round towers, three of which survive from the 13th century. The castle sits on ground first recorded in 786 when it belonged to Hersfeld monastery. Over the centuries it passed through the hands of the Hagen-Münzenberg, Hanau, Falkenstein and Solms families before becoming the seat of the Counts of Solms-Laubach in 1418. In 1475 Count Kuno obtained imperial permission to strengthen both castle and town with walls and towers. The architect Licher Baum Wolff Werner remodelled the towers in 1533, giving them the baroque hoods that crown them today. The castle is worth the journey for anyone interested in the layered history of central Germany. Its early medieval charter appears in a Hersfeld monastery list from 786, making it one of the region’s oldest documented sites. The transfer of power from monastery to noble families and then to the Solms line shows how local authority shifted across the centuries. The imperial licence to fortify in 1475 highlights the castle’s strategic importance during the late Middle Ages. The 1533 rebuilding by Werner shows the transition from medieval fortress to Renaissance residence. These layers of ownership and change give the castle unusual historical depth. Visitors walk through the three interlinked wings and see the four original round towers, three still intact. The baroque hoods on the towers catch the light and mark the Renaissance remodelling. Inside, rooms arranged around courtyards reflect the castle’s dual role as fortress and noble home. The surrounding town retains stretches of its medieval wall built after 1475, giving a sense of the fortified landscape. From the castle grounds there are views across the gentle countryside of the Gießen region. The building remains the private residence of the Solms-Laubach family, yet parts are open to the public at times.