Püttlingen Castle

The "Schlösschen" (Little Castle), one of the landmarks of the city of Püttlingen, owes its existence to Prince Ludwig von Nassau-Saarbrücken. To indulge his passion for hunting, he had a hunting lodge built around 1790 on the grounds of the old Püttlingen Castle.

Since stones from the castle were probably used for its construction, it soon acquired its current name in popular parlance. Built in the late Baroque architectural style, it resembles the farmhouses in the Köllertal, where the living and working areas are combined under a steep, elongated roof.

In 1793, the "Schlösschen" was confiscated by the French revolutionary government and made available to the Metz Civil Hospital. In 1817, it was put up for auction, sold several times to private individuals, before being acquired by Mayor Pickard in 1857. A decree by the Prussian government in Trier finally designated the "Schloss" in 1868 as the "official premises" of the municipality of Püttlingen, which had been elevated to a "special mayoralty".

In 1904, the "Schlösschen" had served its purpose as a town hall; it had become too small for the aspiring community. Subsequently, the mayors used it as an official residence. A significant intervention in the building fabric was the relocation of the entrance from the front to the back and the complete redesign of the staircase. According to the different requirements of the time, after World War II, the building served as emergency accommodation, an official residence for employees of the municipality of Püttlingen, and as a library. At this time, the external appearance of the Schlösschen also changed, as the Baroque wall surrounding the house was demolished despite fierce protests from monument conservators and local historians, thereby depriving the building of one of its essential architectural features.

The conversion into exhibition rooms in 1983 required a comprehensive renovation of the entire building, during which the roof structure was also adapted to the latest static regulations.

After the removal of the railway embankment in the city center in 1988 and extensive reconstruction and renovation measures since autumn 2010, the "Schlösschen", together with the Hexenturm (Witches' Tower), the castle marked on the surface in 2004, and the town hall built in 1913/14, forms the architectural framework of the city park located in the middle of the city.