Katharinenhof Castle

Katharinenhof Castle is a former hunting lodge located in Backnang-Strümpfelbach. Katharinenhof Castle is situated on the northern edge of the Backnang district on an elevation (Katharinenbuckel) along Federal Highway 14 near Oppenweiler in the Rems-Murr district in Baden-Württemberg. The former castle park was designed as an English landscape garden, in keeping with the spirit of the times, and is enclosed by a wall and several follies. In addition to a large tree population and some farm buildings, it contains sculptures and relief steles. In the southern district of the castle, there is a publicly accessible memorial with an open chapel and commemorative plaques for the Reusch industrialist family, who originated from Ostrava in Moravia.

While Katharinenhof politically belongs to the Strümpfelbach district of the city of Backnang, ecclesiastically it is a branch affiliated with the Protestant parish of Oppenweiler.

Katharinenhof Castle was built in 1847 as a hunting lodge for Prince Friedrich of Württemberg and his wife Katharina. It is designed as a two-story rectangular building in the late Classicist style.

In 1916, the castle was acquired by the Oberhausen industrial manager Paul Reusch, who used it as his country estate. Paul Reusch regularly purchased or commissioned works of art and thus, among other things, adorned the park around Katharinenhof Castle (e.g., the Eduard Mörike relief stele, executed in 1954–55 by the Munich sculptor Josef Meinert based on a design by Bernhard Bleeker). Paul Reusch died on December 21, 1956, at Katharinenhof Castle; his son Hermann Reusch also died at Katharinenhof Castle on December 17, 1971.

Since 1993, Katharinenhof Castle has been owned by the Stuttgart entrepreneur and monument conservator Peter Seydelmann. He strives to create a refuge for endangered animals and plants in the old castle park and in adjacent, newly acquired areas. He attempts to compensate for poor soil quality by adding additional earth.

For several years, Katharinenhof Castle has been a venue for the Backnang Economic Talks.