Altenstein Palace

Schloss Altenstein stands on a rocky hill in the south-western Thuringian Forest, near Eisenach. It was once the summer home of the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen and overlooks a vast English landscape garden. The park covers 160 hectares and includes a 300-metre cavern through which a fast-flowing stream runs. Zechstein rock pinnacles rise from the ground around the palace, adding to the dramatic setting. The site has been occupied since at least the 6th century, when a fortified structure may have stood there. Saint Boniface reportedly preached at Altenstein in 724 and built a chapel on the Bonifatiusfelsen.

The palace is worth visiting for its layered history and royal connections. The current Baroque building replaced an earlier castle destroyed by fire in 1733. Duke Georg I began using it as a summer residence in 1798, and his son Georg II transformed it in the late 19th century. The English Renaissance Revival style, with oriels and obelisk ornaments, reflects the duke’s British ties and love of Shakespeare. The gardens were redesigned with advice from landscape experts including Hermann von Pückler-Muskau and Peter Joseph Lenné. Princess Charlotte of Prussia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, is buried in the park.

Visitors find a Baroque palace with later additions set in a grand park. The interior reflects the tastes of the Saxe-Meiningen dukes, including rooms influenced by British design. The surrounding landscape garden offers paths through open lawns, wooded areas and rocky outcrops. The Altenstein cave, discovered in 1799, can be explored along with the stream that flows through it. Remnants of earlier structures, such as the Bonifatiusfelsen chapel site, add layers of history. The park also contains monuments linked to Martin Luther and the last duke’s family.