Schloss Dennenlohe

Schloss Dennenlohe stands in the village of Dennenlohe, part of Unterschwaningen in Mittelfranken. The building began as a water castle first mentioned in 1337. By the early 18th century it had become a baroque residence with a three-wing layout designed by Leopoldo Retti for the banker Paul Martin von Eichler. The complex includes a baroque Gutshof with former stables, a marstall and a 1700 barn now used for exhibitions and a restaurant. A later addition is the 1868 neogothic chapel whose tower dates from about 1490. The site is worth visiting for its layered history and the garden prizes it hosts. In 1773 Johann Graf von Fries turned the grounds into an English landscape park. Today the 26-hectare botanical garden is recognised as the largest rhododendron park in southern Germany. Since 2006 the castle has awarded the German Garden Book Prize, and since 2011 the European Garden Book Prize, both presented during annual festivals judged by leading garden architects and photographers. Visitors find a baroque residential wing with a seven-window central section above the main entrance. The garden front shows eleven windows, again with a three-window gabled projection. South of the main building the Gutshof courtyard is framed by former stables and a marstall that now houses a café. The rhododendron collection is spread through the English-style landscape park, which continues to be enlarged and served as an outpost of the 2019 Landesgartenschau.