Château de Brumath

The Château de Brumath was built between 1720 and 1726 at the behest of Count Johann Reinhard III of Hanau, after a predecessor building from 1672 was destroyed and its ruins removed from 1718 onwards. The Hanau master builder Christian Ludwig Hermann provided the plans for the new building, which was intended as a summer residence for the Count's daughter, Charlotte. However, she died in 1726 and never used the castle. The later heirs, the Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt, also had little use for the estate. From 1775, it served as a residence for Maria Christina of Saxony. After her death in 1782, the castle stood empty, becoming a victim of vandalism and looting. In 1793, Austro-Prussian troops under Dagobert Sigismund Wurmser occupied Brumath and used the castle as their headquarters, but were expelled by French revolutionary troops in the same year. In 1795, the estate was auctioned off as national property.