Freudenhain Castle

Freudenhain Castle is located in the city of Passau in a park of the same name on the north bank of the Danube. The complex was built from 1785 to 1792 by the Prince-Bishop of Passau, Cardinal Joseph Franz Anton Graf von Auersperg, as a summer residence. The architect and master builder was Johann Georg von Hagenauer. The castle has been used as a school for over a hundred years.

In front of the early-classical two-story main building with its mansard roof is a transverse rectangular courtyard of honor, which is surrounded on both sides by single-story utility buildings. A ramp rising from both sides leads to the portico, which is crowned with a balcony. The gable bears the coat of arms of Cardinal Reichsgraf Joseph von Auersperg.

The name comes from the English park that originally surrounded the castle. Its center was the Holländerdörferl, an artificial village where, in addition to the Prince-Bishop's villa, his most important employees owned their properties.

In 1803, Freudenhain Castle became Bavarian state property as a result of secularization. In 1880, Freudenhain was bought by the Order of the English Ladies and initially served as a training and further education center for female teachers; later it was also used as a home for female students.

In 1900, the castle was extended with the chapel. The high altar, side altar, communion rail, confessional, and Stations of the Cross were created according to designs by the Munich architect Joseph Elsner in his Munich "Institute for Christian Art". From 1911, Freudenhain served as a teacher training college and a higher girls' school, both of which were dissolved during the National Socialist era (1937 and the higher girls' school in 1941, respectively). After the Second World War, a teacher training college was re-established in 1946, in 1951 Freudenhain became a so-called Classical Oberschule, before it was elevated to a German Gymnasium in 1954. Finally, in 1958, the teacher training college was closed.

The remains of the English gardens are now part of the Passau city park.