Wilhelmsthal Castle

The origins of the site date back to 1349, when it was first mentioned as “Wintershusen.” The forested area was a hunting ground for the high nobility, leading to the construction of hunting lodges, including the “Jagdhaus Prunftau,” where Duke Johann Georg I died in 1686. To avoid disturbing the game, the residents of Wintershusen were relocated. In 1699, the place was named Wilhelmsthal in honor of Duke Johann Wilhelm. Between 1709 and 1715, the complex was transformed into a summer residence with animal enclosures and terraced gardens under master builder Johann Mützel. Sixteen Baroque pavilions and an oval festival and concert hall, today known as the Telemann Hall, were built, inaugurated in 1714 and considered one of Europe's oldest freestanding concert halls. The Elte River was dammed to form a lake, and a direct road connection to Eisenach was created. In the 1740s, Duke Ernst August had the Baroque buildings redesigned in the Rococo style by his court architect Gottfried Heinrich Krohne, adding a stable and an orangery.