Schloss Braunfels

Braunfels Castle stands on a basalt hill above the small spa town of Braunfels in central Hesse. The building has guarded the Lahn Valley since the 13th century and still belongs to the Solms-Braunfels family, now under the Counts of Oppersdorff-Solms-Braunfels. Its name means ‘brown rock’, recalling the dark volcanic stone of the hill. The castle first appears in records from 1246 as a fortress against the Counts of Nassau. In 1280 it became the residence of the Solms counts, and by 1384 it was the sole ancestral seat of the Solms-Braunfels line. The castle is worth the journey for its layered history and striking architecture. In the Thirty Years’ War it changed hands repeatedly between imperial, Swedish and French forces, yet always returned to the family. Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, born here in 1602, fled to the Netherlands and rose to become adviser to her husband Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. Her grandson William III later ruled England, Scotland and Ireland. The 17th-century Count Hendrik Trajectinus rebuilt the castle in Baroque style after a fire, and in the 19th century Prince Ferdinand remodelled it in Gothic Revival, creating a romantic vision of a medieval castle. Visitors find a complex of buildings arranged around courtyards. The late Gothic castle church from the early 1500s survives, and the 18th-century Baroque courtyard is laid out in a chessboard pattern. The Ottonische Bau and Cabinettsbau house a café, while the Lange Bau and Prinz-Albrecht-Bau extend the living quarters. Beyond the walls, the Braunfels game park offers quiet walks. The castle’s silhouette dominates the town and the Lahn Valley, linking past and present for every visitor.