CastleMemory: Burg Königstein

Let's have a walk down memory lane to the year 2013
and a visit to Burg Königstein in the Taunus region of Germany.

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Schloss Köpenick

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In Germany, Köpenick isn't famous for its castle but for an infamous imposter, the Captain of Köpenick, who even amused the last German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II. What did the imposter do? Wilhelm Voigt masqueraded as a Prussian military officer, rounded up a bunch of soldiers under his "command" and "confiscated" more than 4,000 German gold mark from the municipal treasury of Köpenick. It was on October 16, 1906, that the out-of-work shoemaker donned a second-hand military captain's uniform he had purchased in a store, walked out into the street and assumed control of a company of soldiers marching past.  He led them to the town hall of Köpenick, at the time a small town just outside of Berlin and today part of the German capital, arrested the mayor and the treasurer on charges of embezzlement, and took possession of 4,000 Mark from the town treasury. He then disappeared with the money but was later found out and arrested. Affectionately known as the &qu…
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Schloss Lübbenau

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Yours truly fell in love, in love with the Spreewald. Its thousands of little canals and dozens of quaint villages. And while I cannot wait to discover all the beauty this region just south of Berlin has to offer in the summer time, I cannot help but thinking that a visit during the colourful weeks of autumn also gives it a special charm.  One of the stops during my visit? Schloss Lübbenau, the former home of the Counts of Lynar turned luxury hotel. Count Rochus of Lynar, an Italian military engineer who you can see depicted in the left photo, was the first of his family to move north of the Alps where he was employed by both the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg among others constructing various fortifications. It was Rochus' daughter-in-law Elisabeth who, in 1621 after the passing of her husband, purchased the demesne of Lübbenau. And with it came - lucky for us - a Schloss. Originally, a medieval moated castle was located on the same site as today's building. Sometime aro…
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Schloss Biesdorf

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Time flies when you are having fun... It has been a more than a month since yours truly moved to Berlin and actually also already a couple of weeks since I visited the first castle after moving to the German capital. So where did my first Berlin castle hunting adventures take me? To Schloss Biesdorf, a fairly little known Neo-Classical palace in the east of the city. Laying in a small village just outside of the city of Berlin at the time of its creation, Schloss Biesdorf owes its existence to Hans-Brunno von Rüxleben, who purchased the estate it is situated on in 1853, and his son Baron Hans-Hermann of Rüxleben, who inherited the estate about a decade later. After his marriage to Anne Pauline Griebenow, and presumably thanks to parts of her dowry, he added several surrounding estates to the family's portfolio. At the same time, he also commissioned architect Heino Schmieden to draw up plans for an Italian-inspired palace to serve as the family home. Construction on the T-shaped …
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