Ottoburg Castle (Schlitz)

The castle building in Schlitz, inserted into the old city wall to the east, is the Ottoburg, located on the market square. It is named after its builder Otto Hartmann von Schlitz, also known as von Görtz, Hessian governor and privy councillor from 1639 to 1670, the founder of the Ottoburg line, which includes both the famous defender of the Hessian fortress Rheinfels, Major General Georg Ludwig Sittig von Schlitz, from 1693 to 1720, and the well-known "Swede Görtz", Georg Heinrich von Schlitz, from 1688 to 1719, the Prime Minister of Charles XII of Sweden.

The Ottoburg is a palace building flanked by two towers, begun in 1655 and completed in 1681 by his son Philipp Friedrich. Above the portal today is therefore the marital coat of arms of the completer, Knight Captain Philipp Friedrich von Schlitz, also known as von Görtz, from 1640 to 1695, and his wife Juliane Elisabeth von Müncherode (The Müncherode coat of arms shows a barbed fishhook). Philipp Friedrich was married a second time to Sophie von Ilten. The interior of the Ottoburg was restored by Count Emil Friedrich (†1914) and his wife Countess Sophie, née Calvacanti de Albuquerque de Villeneuve (†1902). The coats of arms inlaid in wood in the stairwell, Görtz and Calvacanti, commemorate this. At that time, the wonderful inlaid Renaissance doors of the Hinterburg were also moved to the Ottoburg.