Sommerau Castle

Sommerau Water Castle is a fortified house first built around 1271 on the Elsava river opposite Eschau in Lower Franconia. After Mespelbrunn Castle and Oberaulenbach Water Castle, it is the third water castle in this side valley of the Main in the Spessart.

According to recent research, the castle was not built in 1143, but only after 1271 as a counter-fortification by the Archbishop of Mainz to the dominion of the Counts of Rieneck in Eschau, located opposite. The estate was given as a fief to the Kottwitz family. In 1365, Sommerau Castle was divided between the related Kottwitz and Fechenbach families. The Kottwitz and the Lords of Fechenbach were joint owners of the castle until 1550. After taking over the Kottwitz shares, the Fechenbachs were now the sole owners.

During the Peasants' War, the castle - according to the Spessart legend, shaped by folklorist Valentin Pfeifer - was stormed and set on fire on May 2, 1525, by rebellious peasants led by Jakob Hock from Sommerau's Hesselsmühle. It was rebuilt or newly constructed, but destroyed again in the Thirty Years' War. In 1650, the wing that still stands today was erected, with the remains of the defensive tower and the moats preserved. According to the "Renovated Land Tax Cadastre" of 1856, Hartmann Freiherr von Fechenbach Sommerau and Friedrich Karl Joseph von Fechenbach Laudenbach were joint owners. Thereafter, after the last male descendant of the Fechenbachs died, the water castle passed to the heirs of Aufseß in Laudenbach.

From 1916 to 1920, the castle - rented with all its inventory - served as an artist's residence for the painter and artist couple Oskar and Gertel Hagemann.

From 1925 to 1954, Dr. Josef Drescher, a physician, lived in the castle with his wife Theresia. The kitchen was on the ground floor, and the doctor's practice and private rooms were on the upper floor.

In 1953 (or 1956), Baroness Mechthild von Aufseß, whose husband Baron Hugo von Aufseß had fallen in World War II, sold the water castle to the merchant Kurt Kamphausen, who invested considerable funds in the preservation and expansion of the castle.

In 1970, Kurt Kamphausen sold the castle, including its inventory, to the advertising merchant Kurt Redieß. The Redieß couple also invested considerable sums in the property. A riding hall with stables was built on the south side of the castle park.

In 1994, Redies sold the castle to the insurance company Alte Leipziger, based in Oberursel in the Taunus. The riding hall and stables were demolished, and the castle was completely gutted. A conference hotel was planned for the park, with the castle serving as a meeting place. However, after a change in the board of directors, these plans were abandoned. In 1998, the castle was offered for sale.

Since 2004, the castle has been owned by the architect Wilfried Stendel. He began with the renovation of the castle complex and the planning of a residential complex in the castle park.