Heldburg Castle

Veste Heldburg was a high medieval hilltop castle that was converted into a Renaissance-style palace in the 16th century. It rises on a 405 m high volcanic cone, counted among the former volcanic area of the Heldburg Gangschar, 113 meters above the town of Heldburg in the Heldburger Land, the southernmost tip of the Hildburghausen district in Thuringia. Founded in the 12th or 13th century, it has been called the "Franconian Beacon" since the 14th century due to its exposed location, as a counterpart to the "Franconian Crown," Veste Coburg, which is within sight. Heldburg is the only Thuringian complex among the attractions of the Burgenstraße (Castle Road).

Middle Ages and Early Modern Period

At the beginning of the 14th century, the hilltop castle was owned by the Counts of Henneberg-Schleusingen and served as an administrative and judicial seat after the regional power center at Burg Struphe (today: Burgruine Straufhain near Streufdorf) was abandoned. In 1374, Veste Heldburg fell to the Wettins. Johann Friedrich the Middle had it expanded into a ducal residence in the Renaissance style (Neuer Bau) from 1560 by his court architect Nikolaus Gromann. Among Gromann's most important Renaissance buildings, besides the Französischer Bau at Veste Heldburg, are the Französisches Schloss (today: Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek) in Weimar and the Altenburg Town Hall.

Duke Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg used the castle for decades as a secondary residence and hunting lodge. On the occasion of his marriage to Margarethe of Brunswick-Lüneburg in September 1599, numerous guests of the Duke stayed here; besides the bride, also Margrave Georg Friedrich I of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, Duke Ernst II of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke Wilhelm Kettler of Courland and Semigallia, and Duke Johann Ernst of Saxe-Eisenach, each with their court.

After several conquests and plundering during the Thirty Years' War, Heldburg was refortified and from 1776 temporarily served as the residence of the Ernestine Dukes of Saxe-Hildburghausen. In 1826, it became the property of the Meiningen ducal house. Duke Georg II had it extensively renovated from 1874 to 1898 and resided there temporarily from May 1877 with his wife Helene Freifrau von Heldburg. The focus of the redesign in the Historicist style was the interiors of the Französischer Bau and the Freifraukemenate in the Kommandantenbau. With new tower spires, the Duke gave the Veste its characteristic silhouette in the spirit of castle romanticism.

20th Century

From 1926 to 1945, the titular Duke Georg III and his wife Klara Maria (1895–1992), née Countess von Korff, were the last owners of Veste Heldburg. As one of four children of this couple, Regina von Sachsen-Meiningen grew up at Heldburg. Georg von Sachsen-Meiningen was a judge in Meiningen. He and his family were dispossessed without compensation in 1945, and he himself died in Soviet captivity in 1946. His wife fled with the children to West Germany. Regina married Otto von Habsburg in 1951.

After the Second World War, Veste Heldburg was located in the border area of the GDR. From early 1948 to late 1949, the Heldburg District Court was located in its rooms. In 1951, the castle was cleared out by Soviet troops and used as a commandant's office, after which a children's home was housed there until 1982. On April 7, 1982, a large fire severely damaged the so-called Französischer Bau and destroyed the entire interior of the living quarters and the large ballroom. Structural safety or reconstruction was initially out of the question. Instead, the building was further damaged by the weather. Only in 1990, as part of a Thuringian-Bavarian cooperation, did the rescue of the Französischer Bau begin with the reconstruction of the roof and the installation of new floor slabs.

On October 25, 1994, Veste Heldburg was taken over by the Stiftung Thüringer Schlösser und Gärten (Thuringian Castles and Gardens Foundation), which continued the renovation measures. The Französischer Bau was restored in its shell and exterior facades, and the two Renaissance oriel windows were restored.

21st Century

From 2008, work was accelerated by ERDF funding. For the renovation with the aim of establishing the German Castle Museum, more than 8 million euros were available until 2013. On June 2, 2009, a symbolic cornerstone with documents was laid into the floor of the Heidenbau. In October 2010, the renovation work in the Kommandantenbau was completed, and the Pfeilerhalle and the old Hofstube were restored. The Heidenbau followed in 2011, and in 2013, the interior work in the Französischer Bau was completed. In 2015, the German Castle Museum is to be opened at the Veste. In 2007, an exhibition was opened that informs about the goals of the museum and provides an overview of castle research, history and typology of castles and their function in the Middle Ages as well as from the 17th to 19th centuries.