Weißhaus

The Weißhaus is a medieval moated castle in Cologne’s Sülz district. It stands on the old road to Trier, now called Luxemburger Straße, just outside the city walls. The site was first mentioned in 1378 when a couple took land from the Abbey of Sankt Pantaleon as hereditary tenants. After destruction in the Neusser War it was rebuilt, burned down in 1584, and raised again in 1613. The present tower dates from the rebuilding of 1613–1619. The castle became a summer residence for the abbots of Sankt Pantaleon in the 17th century. After secularisation it passed into private hands and was enlarged by Cologne merchant Johann Adam Jansen. Architect Vincenz Statz designed the neo-Gothic chapel, consecrated in 1857 by Cardinal Johannes von Geissel. Inside, Tempera paintings by Johann Anton Ramboux depict biblical scenes, while the windows show Ramboux’s designs executed by the studio of Johann Anton Friedrich Baudri. Visitors see a two-storey manor under a mansard roof, with an octagonal turret capped in Baroque style. A 19th-century chapel stands beside the tower, its interior richly painted and its windows filled with coloured glass. The moat, covering about 5 600 square metres, is crossed by two arched bridges, one bearing an ornate wrought-iron gate from the 1660s. Beyond a high brick wall the park stretches over roughly 20 800 square metres, enclosing modern sports facilities and a swimming pool. Though the grounds are private, the ironwork along Luxemburger Straße offers glimpses of the castle’s front court.