Schloss Engers () is a Baroque-style palace in

Engers Engers is a district of Neuwied on the right banks of the river Rhine in Germany located next to Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate. Engers has 5,367 inhabitants. It is highwater-endangered by its direct contact with the river Rhine. City history ...

, near

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is situated on the banks of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

river.

Johann IX Philipp von Walderdorff Johann Philipp von Walderdorff (24 or 26 May 170112 January 1768) was a German nobleman who served as Archbishop and Elector of Trier from 1756 and as Prince-Bishop of Worms from 1763 until his death in 1768. Biography Johann Philipp was bor ...

(1701–1768), Prince-Elector of Trier, constructed the palace between 1759 and 1764 based on a design by the architect . It served both as summer palace and hunting lodge. Today the palace is now one of the two locations of

Villa Musica Villa Musica is a foundation of the German state Rhineland-Palatinate and the broadcaster Südwestrundfunk. Its goals are to support young performers of classical music and to run concerts. It is based in Mainz at the . A second institute of the f ...

, a foundation of the German state

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

and the broadcaster

Südwestrundfunk (; ), shortened to SWR (), is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany, specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices in three cities: Stuttg ...

. Its goals are to support young performers of classical music and to run concerts. Also, it houses a museum with old musical instruments and paintings of Prince-Electors of Trier.

History

Kunostein castle

Kuno II of Falkenstein (1320–1388), Archbishop and Prince-Elector of Trier, acquired the town of Engers in 1371 and built Kunostein Castle on the banks of the Rhine. His brother and successor,

Werner von Falkenstein Werner von Falkenstein ( 13554 October 1418) was a German nobleman who served as Archbishop and Elector of Trier from 1388 until his death in 1418. He was the great-nephew of his predecessor Kuno II von Falkenstein and a member of the House of F ...

(1355–1418), relocated the toll station from

Stolzenfels Castle Stolzenfels Castle () is a former medieval fortress castle ("Burg") turned into a palace, near Koblenz on the left bank of the Rhine, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Stolzenfels was a ruined 13th-century castle, gifted to the Prussi ...

near Koblenz to Engers. From then, Kunostein Castle became a

Toll castle A toll castle ()Stokstad, Marilyn (2005). ''Medieval Castles''. London, Westport: Greenwood. p. 60. is a castle that, in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era, guarded a customs post and was intended to control it. They were typically found ...

. It survived the medieval period without significant destruction. In 1757, the then Archbishop and Prince-Elector of Trier, Johann Philipp von Walderdorff, decided to modernize the castle. This undertaking is interpreted as a reaction to the founding of the town of

Neuwied Neuwied (, ) is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the Neuwied (district), District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt ...

. He changed his plans and had the castle demolished in 1758. Today, the Gray Tower of the old toll station remains.

Electoral summer palace and hunting lodge

Johann Philipp von Walderdorff commissioned the architect Johannes Seiz, a student of

Balthasar Neumann Johann Balthasar Neumann (; c. 27 January 1687 – 19 August 1753), usually known as Balthasar Neumann, was a German architect and military artillery engineer who developed a refined brand of Baroque architecture, fusing Austrian, Bohemian, Ita ...

, to build a new summer palace and hunting lodge on the site of the former Kunostein castle. The design is in late baroque-style. Construction happened between 1759 and 1762. Johannes Seiz involved stuccoist Michael Eytel, painter

Januarius Zick Johann Rasso Januarius Zick (6 February 1730 – 14 November 1797) was a German painter and architect. He is considered to be one of the main masters of the Late-Baroque. Life Januarius Zick was born in Munich and began to learn his trade fr ...

from Koblenz, and sculptor Ferdinand Dietz to help with the interior. Since then, the palace remained more or less unchanged. The Prince-Elector only stayed at Schloss Engers during the hunting season in September each year. For the rest of the time, the castle was unoccupied and was opened for visiting travellers. The Prince-Elector would often come by barge from the Philippsburg palace in Koblenz over the Rhine to Engers. The Elector also had other palaces and hunting lodges built in: a transformation of his family castle in Molsberg, the Electoral palace in

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

and

Wittlich Wittlich (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Wittlech'') is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany, the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich Districts of Germany, district. Its historic town centre and the beauty of the sur ...

Schloss Philippsfreude Schloss Philippsfreude () was a rococo Schloss in Wittlich in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It served as a hunting lodge and summer palace for the Prince-Electors of Trier. It was destroyed by French revolutionary troops in 1794. Today, noth ...

. Further, he was responsible for the furnishing of Schloss Schönbornslust, which construction was started under his predecessor,

Franz Georg von Schönborn Franz Georg von Schönborn (15 June 168218 January 1756) was a German nobleman who served as Archdiocese of Trier, Archbishop and Electorate of Trier, Elector of Trier from 1729 until his death in 1756. He was also Bishopric of Worms, Prince-Bis ...

(1682–1756).

19th and 20th centuries

After the end of the Electorate, the castle was assigned to the Prince of

Nassau-Weilburg The House of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of the House of Nassau, ruled a division of the County of Nassau, which was a state in what is now Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1344 to 1806. On 17 July 1806, upon the dissolution of t ...

as a summer residence in 1803. Following the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, Engers became part of Prussia, and between 1862 and 1914, the site was used as a military school . During the wars of 1870/71 and between 1914 and 1917, it served as a reserve hospital. In 1928, the site was sold to the Josefs-Gesellschaft, and a home, healing, and educational institution for people with disabilities was established. The hospital school evolved into the Christiane Herzog School, which is part of the Heinrich-Haus and focuses on motor development.

Modern times

In 1990, the castle building was taken over by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and has housed the state foundation Villa Musica since 1995. Directly adjacent to the castle upstream is the neo-baroque residential house for the masters (known as the ''Meisterhaus''), built around 1900, who were trained at Heinrich-Haus. The renovated building now houses the State Music Academy of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2003.

Panorama

References

Literature

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External links

* {{coord, 50.42246, 7.54342, format=dms, type:landmark_region:DE, display=title 18th-century architecture Architecture in Germany Castles in Rhineland-Palatinate Episcopal palaces in Germany Houses completed in the 18th century Palaces in Rhineland-Palatinate Electorate of Trier