Schloss Weitersroda

Schloss Weitersroda is a Renaissance manor house in the village of the same name near Hildburghausen in southern Thuringia. First recorded in 1478, it was begun by the Franconian knight Eucharius von Hessberg in the late 15th century. The oldest surviving parts form the three-storey western wing, its north-west front marked by a stair-tower and gateway. The stair-tower contains a spiral sandstone staircase built in historic spindle style. Its windows include small round openings that could be blocked by half-cut cannon balls, rafter-shaped lights following the stair’s curve, and three glazed circles just below the roof. Inside, the first floor has a gallery lined with paired windows set in niches with window seats. Dendrochronology shows the panelling timber was felled in 1586. A 17th-century diamond-quader portal leads from the courtyard into a hall with a cross-vault and a central diamond-quader column. The manor once belonged to the ducal family of Saxe-Hildburghausen and formed part of the grand Henriettenthal project of the 1660s. Plans from 1693 and 1696 show a four-winged complex with five towers, stables for twelve horses and a coach house for four carriages. Today the courtyard gives access to the main building, the former brewhouse cellars and a modernised stable wing. Each summer the courtyard hosts the Paradiesvogelfest, a festival of songwriters, crafts and circus arts.