Mainhardt Hunting Lodge

The Mainhardt hunting lodge , also known as Schlössle , is a small palace complex of the counts and later princes of Hohenlohe from the early 17th century. The facility, known by locals as Mainhardter Schlössle , is located in the center of Mainhardt in the Schwäbisch Hall district in Baden-Württemberg .

The Schlössle in Mainhardt, view from the east

history

In 1416 the village of Mainhardt came into the possession and rule of the noble family von Hohenlohe through purchase. On the threshold of the 16th to the 17th century, the Hohenlohe House, which had meanwhile risen to the rank of count, had the main building of the castle with ancillary buildings built in the center of Mainhardt. In 1603 this building is mentioned for the first time in the Mainhardt documents as an official building with horse and cattle shed . In 1644 the property is referred to as a castle in the documents and in 1652 it appears as Schlösslin in the Mainhardt files. Furthermore, it is documented in the documents of the community that the Hohenlohe rulers often organized large hunts in the forests around Mainhardt, which are rich in game, and used the office as a hunting lodge for this purpose . In the years following the construction of the main building, a gatehouse and additional outbuildings were built to accommodate guests.

After the Reformation , the Mainhardts, like almost all subjects in Hohenlohe territory, became Protestant with their sovereigns . Mainhardt came into the possession of the Catholic House of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein through succession . Since there was only one Protestant church in Mainhardt, the count had a prayer room set up for his own family and for his Catholic servants in the office in 1730 . In 1744 the Counts of Hohenlohe were elevated to the rank of prince. In 1781, Prince Ludwig Karl Leopold zu Hohenlohe-Bartenstein had a chapel built within the enclosed palace area.

As a result of the mediatization of the royal houses, the palace complex passed to bourgeois owners in 1870, the owners and uses now changed quickly. Among other things, there was a tannery there for a while and later a spice mill with a spice shop. In 1977 the municipality of Mainhardt acquired the property and had the complex renovated at great expense in order to make it accessible to the public.

description

The castle area consists of a castle courtyard enclosed by a wall in the north, which is closed on all sides by buildings, and a castle garden of about the same size in the south of the complex. You enter the castle courtyard through a gatehouse built in an east-west direction on the south side of the fenced-in area. This was built in the same architectural style as the main building with a mansard roof . To the right of this, at the southeast corner of the site, stands the historic castle fountain in a free space within the enclosure. As an extension of the north wall of the gatehouse, the courtyard is closed to the south by an outbuilding in a more profane style. Another outbuilding is connected to this at right angles to this, which closes the entire length of the courtyard to the west. In the north, the courtyard is only limited by a wall. However, two private buildings directly attached to the wall give the impression of a closed courtyard. The east side of the courtyard, directly on the main road, is closed off almost half of the courtyard wall on its northern part by the palace chapel. The area between the chapel and the castle fountain is undeveloped and is only fenced in by the courtyard wall facing the street.

In the middle of the courtyard stands the old office building, the actual Schlössle , free and slightly twisted compared to the other buildings . Its ridge direction is approximately east-southeast-west-northwest. A gallery corridor connects this main building with the gatehouse.