Augustenburg Castle

Augustenburg Castle is a former castle of the Margraves of Baden-Durlach in today's Grötzingen district of Karlsruhe.

Originally built in the 10th century, the predecessor building of the castle served as a prebend house from the 12th century onwards. Margrave Christoph I of Baden (reg. 1475–1515) acquired the building and expanded it into a princely residence. Karl II of Baden-Durlach (reg. 1553–1557) extended it into a castle by having two semicircular towers added to the southeast and northeast corners, and two wings with corridors to the west.

The castle owes its current name to Augusta Maria of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf, wife of Friedrich Magnus of Baden-Durlach from 1670 and mother of Karlsruhe's founder Karl Wilhelm. When the Karlsburg in Durlach was destroyed in 1689 during the War of the Palatine Succession, it temporarily served as a residence. Augusta Maria, to whom Friedrich Magnus had given the castle in 1678, had it fundamentally renovated from 1699 onwards. A commemorative plaque is affixed to the main entrance below the coats of arms, referring to the builder: "I was recently / As I am seen here / Right after the peace treaty / Augusta built me thus / And because I now stand here / By her princely hand / I shall also be named / Augustenburg after her / 1699".

At the beginning of the 19th century, the castle came into private ownership. In 1891, the painter Otto Fikentscher acquired the property and transformed the castle into a cultural center for artists; not least due to this initiative, Grötzingen earned the reputation of a "painters' village" (see Grötzingen Painters' Colony). During the Second World War, forced laborers were housed in the castle, and after the war, it served as accommodation for 700 displaced persons. The heirs of Otto Fikentscher, who died in 1945, sold the castle in 1962 to the state of Baden-Württemberg, which, after extensive renovation work and the reconstruction of the north and south wings, leased it as a retirement home to the Arbeiterwohlfahrt. Today, a nursing home with 115 care places is operated in Augustenburg Castle by Pro Seniore Schloss Augustenburg GmbH.