Hesse
Art, History & Archaeology Sites & Museums

At the top of a basalt hill, with spectacular views over the town and surrounding area, the towers and walls of Braunfels castle look straight out of a fairy tale. What started as a fortified residence (the foundations of which are still preserved) in the 13th century developed into a striking Baroque residence of the 17th and 18th century. The castle served as the residence and the seat of government for the counts and princes of Solms-Braunfels. And has been in the family for close on 800 years. The same family live there today, organising guided tours for visitors. The museum can be visited without a guide.

At a number of points in the historic city of Darmstadt sections of the medieval wall survive. The first wall, featuring square watchtowers, was built in 1330. Construction on the outer wall, with circular towers, was carried out in the 15th century. Only one watchtower survives, the Hinkelsturm – now housing the Altstadtmuseum. One section has been incorporated into the building of the Science and Congress Centre – the medieval wall makes a striking contrast to the glass façade.

The Felsenmeer, literally, sea of rocks, is a large boulder field made up of massive dark grey quartz dolerite rocks. Spectacular from a geological point of view, the feature is a designated geotope in the the UNESCO Geopark/Geo-Nature Park Bergstraße-Odenwald. The rocks were used as a source of stone material by the Romans, and stonemasons ever since. There are a number of rocks that bear the marks of Roman stonemasons. But the most impressive artefact is a fully hewn column 9.3 m long. It is thought this column was intended for Constantine the Great’s church complex at Trier.

Built during the reign of Hadrian in 130 AD, Haselburg is one of the largest and most extensively excavated Roman estates in the state of Hesse. Reconstructed foundations allow visitors to see the floorplan of the villa, sections of the perimeter wall, a gate and a sanctuary dedicated to Jupiter. Although known about since the 19th century, the ruins were fully excavated in 1979 during the laying of gas pipelines. The large and spacious rural complex suggests it was owned by a member of the provincial upper class. The site is free to explore throughout the year, with the information centre open in the afternoons on weekends only between April and October. Well worth a visit.

With a commanding position on a wooded hilltop, Lichtenberg Castle has spectacular views over the Fischbach Valley. Built in 1570, this was the first Renaissance castle in southern Hesse. Then it served as the summer residence for the landgraves of Darmstadt. Now at the centre of the UNESCO Bergstraße-Odenwald Geopark, the castle is home to an environmental museum, exploring the history of agriculture in the area and the Odenwald landscape.  The castle is a stop on a number of history and geography hiking trails. Guided tours of the castle are available.

Built in the 12th century to secure imperial rule in the Wetterau region by the Hohenstaufen dynasty. This was a noble family that from the 11th to the 13th century rose to rule in Holy Roman Empire. Today it is one of the best preserved Romanesque castles in Germany. Known locally as the ‘Wetterau Inkwell’ because of the two, distinctive and well preserved round towers that stand at either end of the inner ward. The tallest being 29 metres high. Round towers like these are common for the time and area, but usually only one.

Said to be one of the most critical spots in the Cold War. This is  the point where US Armed Forces and the the Warsaw Pact faced each other for four decades over the East-West boundary, on what is the border between Hessen and Thuringia. Visitors can explore the entire complex by themselves, including the US  Camp, the House on the Border, border fortifications and reconstructions, the Patrol Road/Road of Hope and the Wiesenfeld Tower. Guided tours of the memorial site are available, and can be booked on the website.

The Residenzschloss Darmstadt was the residence and administrative centre of the landgraves and dukes of Hesse-Darmstadt. The palace complex we see today, home to the local technical university, is made up of both Renaissance and Baroque architecture. The original castle, of which nothing remains, was constructed here in the 13th century. The church and bell buildings now house the Schlossmuseum, with portraits, furniture and handicraft, the collection explores four centuries of royal history of the House of Hesse.

From March 1944 the memorial park served as the cemetery for Camp Rollwald, one of three prison camps in Rodgau. The camp was built in 1938, in which some 200 people died as a result of the appalling conditions in which they were kept.  It is thought the cemetery held 110 bodies. Following the war the graves were largely neglected, until the memorial park was established in 1983. There are detailed, illustrated information panels (in German, French and English) that outline all aspects of the camp’s history.

The Roman fort of Saalburg, also Römerkastell Saalburg, was a frontier fortification on the Upper German Limes just northwest of Bad Homburg, Hesse. The earliest excavations were carried out in the 1850s. In 1897 Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered a reconstruction of the fort, the result a near complete reconstruction of a Roman fort. Displays in the buildings use artefacts from the fort to give an idea of life in Roman times here. There are also artefacts from nearby sites such as the exquisite gilded bronze head of a horse from Waldgrimes.

At the southern tip of the Glauberg archaeologists have excavated and reconstructed an Iron Age burial mound that is associated with a system of ditches and banks. Besides recovering graves with high status objects, the most remarkable find was an intact life size sandstone statue, and the remains of at least thee more. These are unique in Celtic archaeology. An onsite museum presents the extraordinary archaeology from the site. The site is located in an archaeological park. A route through the park allows visitors to see Iron Age fortifications.

Deep in a forest in northern Odenwald, above the town of Sandbach, are the remains of a Roman settlement. Long been known as Wamboltsches Schlösschen (Wambolt’s little castle), the ruins were thought to be those of the ancestral castle of the Wambolt family of Umstadt. Excavations in the 1870s, however, revealed their Roman age – but little else. The site is overgrown, and the informative panels are decaying. There is little to see that warrants the 40 minute walk from the nearest car park. Some of the walls have been reconstructed, but there is little understanding as to what they were were walls of.

Commissioned as a summer residence and hunting lodge by Landgrave William VIII. It was built between 1743 and 1761, and is today one of the most important and beautiful surviving Rococo palaces in Germany. Most of the rooms are in the Rococo style, and have survived unchanged. Besides the French made furnishings, the palace is also known for its collection of paintings by Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Elder. The Rococo Park, incomplete, includes a grotto and canal. The castle park is open to all, and free, year round. It is only possible to visit the palace’s interior on a guided tour, which are offered daily.