Bergfeld Castle

Schloss Bergfeld is a former hunting lodge located in the municipality of Eisenschmitt in the Volcanic Eifel, Rhineland-Palatinate. Its most prominent guest at the time was German Emperor Wilhelm II.

In 1900, the Düsseldorf entrepreneur Hugo von Gahlen, as owner of the so-called Franzosenwald (French Forest), commissioned the construction of a hunting lodge on a plateau for himself and his guests. He engaged the Düsseldorf architect Max Wöhler.

This initial building now forms the western part of the castle and was extended in 1911 to allow the complex to be used as the family's residence. In 1914, a separate building was constructed, housing a bowling alley (Scherenbahn).

Gahlen initially used the estate with his wife, later alone, until his death in 1938. It remained in the possession of his descendants, the von Berghes family, until 1998 and was temporarily used as the headquarters of the General Staff of the VII Army during World War II. After French and American forces occupied the castle, it was rented to the Caritas Association as a tuberculosis sanatorium after the war. From 1962 to 1998, it was then used by the Josefs-Gesellschaft, which maintained a boarding school for severely physically disabled children there, run by the Schönstatt Sisters of Mary.

In 1998, Schloss Bergfeld was sold, partially renovated, and has since been used exclusively for private purposes, which is why it cannot be visited.