Ehrenstein Castle

Ehrenstein Castle is a Renaissance castle in Ohrdruf, Thuringia. It is a two-story, four-wing building.

After 531, a Frankish moated castle was built in the area of the present castle, protected around 600 by a rampart with a deeper moat and around 700 by a refuge tower. Its remains are now in the north wing of the castle. In 777, a Peter and Paul church was founded on the walls of the moated castle by the later Bishop Lullus. A visit by King Otto I, later emperor, on his journey to Italy in 961 is confirmed. He signed documents here. The foundations of a large hall next to the church have been excavated and traced. In 980, the Imperial Abbey of Hersfeld founded the Petristift, a collegiate church. The associated new church building fell victim to a fire in 1184. In 1344, an Augustinian canons' monastery and in 1463 a Carmelite monastery were established. It ceased to exist with the Reformation in 1525.

South of the church, from the 10th to the 12th century, was the cemetery of the canons and later Augustinian canons. 38 graves were located, 18 of which were stone cist graves.

In 1463, the Counts of Gleichen had become owners of the collegiate buildings. The builder of the castle on and from the walls of the church and the cloister buildings was Count Georg II von Gleichen (1509–1570). His master builders Georg and Valentin Kirchhof erected a new wing from 1550. Ernst von Gleichen expanded the complex from 1610 to 1616. In 1750, the Counts of Hohenlohe inherited the castle. In the mid-18th century, some parts of the castle were extended in Baroque style.

Prince Hermann zu Hohenlohe sold the castle to the Gotha state in 1869. In 1870, it began to be used by the Realgymnasium with a boarding school, and the interior rooms were accordingly redesigned. Later, the castle also housed the district administrator's office and the employment office. In 1924, it was acquired by the city of Ohrdruf for charitable purposes. In 1933/1935, the local history museum, which had been compiled by Studienrat Böttcher, moved in.

Until 1956, the city of Ohrdruf could use the castle. Then it was taken over by the Soviet Army and used as a school and for apartments. In 1966, the Soviet school left the building, but the apartments remained occupied for a time. The neglected castle was now left to itself, and further destruction and looting occurred. In 1971, the castle was in a ruinous state. Roofs and the tower spire were defective, the east, south, and north wings were severely infested with dry rot. There was no usable water pipe left, the sewage channels were clogged, the electrical system burned out, stair railings dismantled, parquet flooring torn out, doors and windows throughout the castle defective.

From 1971, initial reconstruction work began on the building complex. An interest group Schloss Ehrenstein e.V. was founded within the Kulturbund der DDR, which saved the castle from its intended demolition. Initially, the roof covering of the castle buildings was renewed, and in 1975, the castle tower was reconstructed. This was followed by the development of apartments in the east wing, club rooms in the west wing, the establishment of a special school in the east wing, and multiple renovations of the Rococo Hall as a music hall (the only preserved hall) by members of the IG. In 1997, the city became the owner of the castle and pushed for its renovation both inside and out. The addition of an external staircase was done in a break with style. Today, the castle houses, among other things, the local history museum, the city archive, and the city library of Ohrdruf. Two collegiate cells and a chapel are preserved. The ground floor of the east wing has not yet been developed. The redesigned inner courtyard was opened to the public in 2010. A landscape architecture competition was held for the redesign of the castle garden and castle park. The work is well advanced.

The local history museum in the castle shows the history of Ohrdruf with special consideration of Ehrenstein Castle, as a loan a self-designed collection of models by Dipl. Ing. Wilfried Freiherr von Wechmar (important buildings of the city of Ohrdruf - including the former Michaeliskirche - and other churches up to the Frauenkirche in Dresden), a section on the Bach family's connections to Ohrdruf, a doll and toy section, and other exhibits.

On November 26, 2013, a roof fire occurred in the building, during which large parts of the building were severely damaged by the fire and the extinguishing water. The cause of the fire was that roofers tried to de-ice a frozen board on the roof scaffolding with a gas burner. Due to the extinguishing work, the city library located under the roof structure was flooded. In another wing, two apartments were also ruined by extinguishing water and are no longer habitable. The property damage is estimated at at least 10 million euros, as paintings and other art objects were located in the destroyed part of the castle. The important doll collection and the replicas of historical buildings by Wilfried von Wechmar were also lost. The community hall and archive remained intact.
The fire occurred immediately before the final inspection after an elaborate renovation of the complex, which had cost several million euros. The restoration of the building will be covered by the Sparkassenversicherung, but the art objects are irretrievably lost.