Oppurg Castle

The Oppurg Castle (also known as lock down Oppurg or lock sub-Oppurg called) is a baroque castle in Oppurg in Pößneck ( Saale-Orla ) in the east of Thuringia .

history

In the High Middle Ages , a fortress was built on the site of today's castle, which was demolished in 1705. The moated castle on the Orla was first mentioned in 1354 . It was built in 1074 by Margrave Wiprecht von Groitzsch and later expanded into a fortification by Lord von Brandenstein from Ranis . They called the castle Friedrichstein. Remains of this old castle can still be seen on the castle grounds in the form of the tower overgrown with wine. A stately four-sided courtyard with a manor house, gatehouse and four barns was built between the 16th and 19th centuries. The massive two-story mansion on the south corner was built around 1680. Around 1755 the estate was fundamentally redesigned and the four-sided courtyard was closed.

In 1703, after several changes of ownership, Oppurg came into the possession of Hans Haubold von Einsiedel's widow , Anna Sophia von Rumohr , whose father C. von Rumohr had Oppurg Castle built for her from 1705 to 1708 after the castle was demolished. The baroque building is said to have been equipped with 365 windows, 52 interior doors, 12 chimneys and 4 portals. The floor plan of the palace is in the shape of an E, a reference to Amalia Sophie von Einsiedel.

In 1745, Count Julius Gebhard von Hoym acquired the castle. He then had it redesigned, with today's stucco facades being created; they were made by Christian Wilhelm Müller . The garden was also walled. Julius Gebhard von Hoym was the nephew of Count Adolf Magnus von Hoym , President of the Chamber of the Saxon Elector August the Strong and husband of Anna Constantia von Brockdorff, before she became the King's most famous mistress as Countess Cosel . In 1752 Hoym was also able to buy the five agricultural goods belonging to Oppurg. After the death of Count Hoym, the estate came into princely Hohenlohe ownership until 1945 through his daughter, who married the Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen . It was used as a summer residence and hunting lodge until 1945.

After 1945 the castle was used for various purposes. The American armed forces stayed in the building for a short time and handed it over to the Soviet Army, which served it as a hospital. Later it became an apprentice dormitory, a polytechnic high school, a place for a kindergarten and a café.

From 1991 to 1993 it was completely renovated by the State of Thuringia and since then it has been used by the Christian Youth Village Association of Germany (CJD) as a European education center, conference center and youth education center for events until December 31, 2017 . The CJD had to cease operations due to inefficiency and is now trying to dissolve the 66-year lease agreement with the Free State that would not end until 2059.

investment

The castle consists of three wings: the southern main wing and the eastern and western secondary wings. There is also a carriage shed, a tower of the former castle, a moat surrounding the castle and, to the east of the house, a castle garden in the style of an English landscape park .