Stadtschloss Eisenach

The creation of the current City Palace is linked to an event. After the death of the last Duke of Eisenach, Wilhelm Heinrich, his widow Anna Sophie Charlotte was banished from the country. She then had the residential palace she occupied emptied of all but the bare essentials. Duke Ernst August was reportedly so enraged by this humiliation that he ordered the immediate demolition of the old palace, which took place in 1742. In the same year, the order was given for a new building on the same site. Planning proved complex, as an area with six townhouses served as the building site, and the existing structures, along with the requirement to use inexpensive materials, restricted the architects led by Gottfried Heinrich Krohne. Initially, a south wing with smaller rooms was built. To meet princely demands, a north wing for ballrooms was planned in 1743, and a western connecting building for the stables was commissioned. The east wing, originally conceived as stables, was later used as an economic wing and demolished in 1933. By 1748, parts of the palace were completed, including the market-facing facade, adorned with a pavilion and vases. After the death of the builder in the same year, August Friedrich Strassburger completed the complex in the 1750s. Until 1918, the City Palace remained the seat of the ducal court in Eisenach.