Fischbach Castle

Fischbach Castle is a half-timbered building located in the Fischbach district in the east of Eisenach. The village of Fischbach, mentioned in 1269 as Vispach, located on the southern slope of Petersberg, belonged to the property of the Nikolaikloster in Eisenach until the Reformation.

Above the village, in the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession in the mid-13th century, a knight from the neighboring village of Stockhausen built the Malittenburg, a wooden spur castle secured by ditches and ramparts, still clearly recognizable today. At the beginning of the hollow way leading up to Malittenburg, an estate was established, probably the monastery's demesne.

In 1613, the Schellhase brothers sold the farm to the Eisenach citizen Georg Kley. Even during the transfer, Duke Johann Ernst, residing in Marksuhl, entered the purchase, took over the estate, and in 1614 gave it to his wife Christine, a daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. The Hersfeld master builder Hans Weber – a master of the Late Renaissance – was commissioned to convert and expand the estate in a representative manner. Significant parts of the existing building fabric date from this period. Weber placed a richly decorated half-timbered floor on the stone ground floor. He added a stair tower and a side wing to the main building in the south. The year "1624" has been carved into several beam ends on the courtyard side of the castle. The portals of the main entrances were decorated with coats of arms. Hidden by the main house, there were some coach houses and farm buildings behind the castle.

The heirs of Duchess Christine sold Fischbach Castle before 1684 to the Eisenach citizen Heinrich Gebhard. From this family, it passed, again by purchase, to Duchess Christine Juliane, but returned to the Gebhard family as early as 1704. In 1719, they were again forced to sell and thus dismember the estate, with the largest part passing into the possession of the municipal community.

The castle must have become an inn as early as the 18th century. According to Johann Wilhelm Storch's description, the spacious inn had several guest rooms, a ballroom, a covered bowling alley, and a garden with shady arbors. "The wanderer finds here a humane, friendly host who receives his guests with the greatest courtesy and dismisses them just as kindly. The visitor enjoys good coffee, equally good beer, which are served abundantly and at the cheapest price. On Sundays after church service, the inn is a playground for the young people from Eisenach, who flock there in droves and amuse themselves with dancing." Around 1910, when it was owned by an Otto Liebetrau, the building and inn were rebuilt again, and the high stone protective wall and the portal probably disappeared during this process.

After 1980, the Eisenach branch of the state institute for monument preservation took over the building, which was in great need of renovation, and set up its administrative offices, archive, training rooms, and workshops there. The entire building complex was completely renovated, a stored archway was erected on Malittenburgweg, thus indicating the former defensive wall. A small park was created in the courtyard area. The building complex was partially made available to the public, where exhibitions, concerts, and theater performances took place. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the property was privatized.