Schönborn Castle

The rear castle today consists of a residential building and a separate tower, the so-called Bannturm. It stands on the site of the old castle of the Lords of Heusenstamm. The old castle was destroyed several times, rebuilt and renovated. Especially at the beginning of the 15th century and in the middle of the 16th century (documented in 1561). The Thirty Years' War brought particularly great destruction.

After the extinction of the local Lords of Heusenstamm in 1616, the castle and the Lordship of Heusenstamm fell to the Austrian side line of the family, which leased the place to the Frankfurt patrician Stephan von Cronstetten. During the Thirty Years' War, the village and the castle were almost completely destroyed. In 1661, the Lordship of Heusenstamm, which included the towns of Obertshausen and Hausen, was sold to Philipp Erwein von Schönborn, the Mainz Oberamtmann in Steinheim.

After the Schönborn family moved in in 1661, the front castle was built, which was initially planned as a four-winged moated castle. The rear castle was repaired, but partly only inhabited by servants. From 1896, it housed a kindergarten run by the Sisters of Divine Providence, then, in the 1940s, an NSV children's day care center. During the Second World War, an anti-aircraft control post was installed on the Bannturm, which was discovered by American aerial reconnaissance. During an Allied air raid on December 11, 1944, an attempt was made to destroy this anti-aircraft position, but this was unsuccessful. Instead, a part of the old castle building was severely damaged, and its remains were removed during the post-war renovation.

The front castle, in Renaissance style, was built between 1663 and 1668 by Philipp Erwein von Schönborn on the former forecourt of the old castle. The parish church of St. Cäcilia was built from 1739 to 1741 as the Catholic burial church of the Heusenstamm branch of the Counts of Schönborn by the master builder Johann Balthasar Neumann. When Emperor Franz I resided in Heusenstamm Castle in 1764 on the occasion of his son's coronation in Frankfurt (Goethe reports on the event in his "Dichtung und Wahrheit"), a magnificent gatehouse was erected in his honor, with two stone lions on the sides of the gate and the Schönborn coat of arms.

In front of the castle is a small park, a remnant of a formerly extensive orangery, which is still clearly recognizable by the castle ponds and the castle avenue located in front of it. The castle is surrounded by a now dry moat, which was once fed with water from the Bieber. Remains of the former lord's garden are still present: these include the Kaiserlindenallee (Emperor's Lime Tree Avenue), newly planted in 1995, in the entrance axis, and two ponds laid out on both sides outside the castle grounds. The current Baroque garden has been re-established in recent times.

From May 17, 1954, to 1976, the Oberpostdirektion Frankfurt operated a postal school in the rented Heusenstamm Castle. It was used for the training of civil servants in the higher service. In 1978, the castle complex, along with most of the Schönborn's property in Heusenstamm, was acquired by the city of Heusenstamm. The front castle was subsequently supplemented by extensions to form a closed square building complex, modeled after Aschaffenburg Castle, to be used as a town hall and administrative seat.

Today, the castle houses the town hall and a restaurant, the "Schloss-Schenke". In the summer, a wine festival takes place on the castle grounds, and on the second Advent weekend, a Christmas market, the so-called "Heusenstammer St. Nikolausmarkt", is held. A permanently installed covered open-air stage between the rear castle and the Bannturm is the venue for the "Kultursommer" (Cultural Summer) with numerous musical events.