Reichardshausen Castle

The origins of Reichardshausen date back to 1152, when it functioned as a wine estate and a transshipment point for the nearby Eberbach Monastery. After the devastations of the Thirty Years' War, the estate was transformed between 1737 and 1740 under Abbot Hermann Hungrighausen into a U-shaped castle complex, serving as a second residence for the monastery. Following secularization in 1803, it became the property of the House of Nassau-Usingen. In 1804, Friederike von Anhalt-Köthen, a daughter of the Duke of Nassau, had the castle redesigned in the Neoclassical style. Later, in 1817, Erwein Graf von Schönborn acquired the estate, expanding it with buildings and a landscape park. In 1873, it changed hands again, passing to Countess Louise von Benckendorff.