Marksuhl Castle

Marksuhl Castle is located in the center of the western Thuringian municipality of Marksuhl. It was initially built as a hunting and residential castle in the Renaissance architectural style. From 1672 to 1686, it served as the residential castle of the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. From 1741, it was significantly expanded again and used as a hunting lodge. Marksuhl Castle, together with the neighboring St. Hubertus Church, forms the landmark of the municipality of Marksuhl and is therefore featured in the town's coat of arms.

After the division of the Ernestine Duchies in 1572, Marksuhl was assigned to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach, which was initially ruled jointly by the brothers Johann Casimir and Johann Ernst of Coburg. From 1587, Duke Johann Ernst had his own castle built opposite St. Hubertus Church, which was located in the Eisenach part of the principality. The building, planned as a hunting lodge, was completed in 1591 and was a wedding gift to the young duke. However, due to tragic circumstances, this duke lost all interest in the castle after the death of his wife and firstborn, so it was downgraded to a hunting lodge and administrative building. During the Thirty Years' War, the remote and unfortified castle was repeatedly chosen as quarters and plundered by passing troops. The hunting-loving Eisenach Duke Johann Georg I made Marksuhl his residence from 1662 to 1672, without, however, moving the administration and authorities from Eisenach. The ducal couple had seven children in their rural idyll. The Eisenach Duke Johann Wilhelm had a baroque summer residence built between 1712 and 1715 near Marksuhl, in the village of Wintershausen, in place of an existing hunting lodge. This duke was also busy with alterations to Marksuhl Castle; in 1722, a wing named after him was built to the east of the original castle grounds, and he also commissioned the construction of an orangery and a castle garden. The dilapidated castle tower had to be renewed in 1739, and the construction date was incorporated into the gilded weather vane.

On July 26, 1741, the last Eisenach Duke Wilhelm Heinrich died during a hunting trip not far from Marksuhl. His heir was the Weimar Duke Ernst August I of Saxe-Weimar, who was also a passionate hunter. On behalf of the Duke, the Weimar court architect Gottfried Heinrich Krohne designed a stable, the New Guardhouse, and extensions deemed necessary by the Duke (dog house, dog kennels, riding stable, coach house). Krohne's modernization measures were carried out in the Rococo architectural style.

With the almost simultaneous construction of Wilhelmsthal Castle, located only seven kilometers east of Marksuhl, the Marksuhl hunting lodge soon became uninteresting for the Weimar court. The buildings were henceforth used again as storage buildings and for economic purposes. Thus, an outpost of the ducal Weimar court stud farm was operated in Marksuhl, as well as a post agency already in the 18th century. In the 19th century, an agricultural school, initially located on the neighboring Hetzeberg estate near Ettenhausen a.d. Suhl, was moved to the castle.

In the 20th century, a lack of use led to further building losses; the coach houses and stables had already been demolished after the stud farm was abandoned.

During the GDR era, the castle complex was used by the municipality, housing the post office and the municipal administration. On the extensive meadow property of the former castle park to the east, the current Schlossparkschule (castle park school), residential houses, and a building for the Marksuhl Volunteer Fire Department were built.

Currently, further rooms of the main building are undergoing restoration, during which original building fabric of the former castle kitchen was rediscovered and restored on the ground floor.