HISTORY
In 1129 the first member of the family Solms appeared. It was Marquard von Solms and he was a witness at the founding of the monastery Schiffenberg near Giessen.
Braunfels is first mentioned in a document on January 3rd, 1246 as “castellum brunenvelz”. The castle was already in the possession of the Counts of Solms, who were resident in the area of the Lahn valley.
The family is named after the small river “Sulmissa” that empties into the Lahn. It still flows through Burgsolms, where the ancestral home of the family was located. They had built a moated castle, of which, however, today there is nothing to see any more.
In Braunfels, on top of the basalt cone on the site of today’s castle, initially there was just a simple watchtower.
In place of today’s castle there first was only a watchtower, built at a prominent location on the basalt rock, which served as border guards against the Count of Nassau in the West. This was expanded and by a (residential) Palas and supplemented by another tower.
Something like in the small picture could have looked like the original core castle with Friedrichsturm (covered by the double-gabled Palas at the back left) and Altes Stock (right).
In the beginning the castle has probably existed out of these three buildings, which were surrounded by a wall. Until today you can see the Friedrichsturm (watchtower), see the Palas (with the Knight’s Hall) and the “Alter Stock” (former castle keep) and thus recognize the old castle of the 13th century in its basic features.
Over the castle's more than 750-year-long history, building work was done many times. Particularly worthy of mention is the town and castle fire of 1679, which burnt much of Braunfels and its stately seat down. Both were then built into a Baroque residence. Braunfels Castle was rebuilt out of materials that were still on hand.
CURRENT SITUATION
The last makeover, which defines the Schloss as it is seen today, took place starting in 1880, and was undertaken according to neo-Gothic plans by builder Edwin Oppler. Art works in the Schloss include works by the Duch Masters, among them van Eyck, works by the Hessian Tischbein family of painters, the Altenberg Altar, parts of which are found in the Sädel in Frankfurt and the Bavarian National Museum in Munich, and Saint Elizabeth'slegendary ring. Sites in the castle include the courtyard, the knights' hall, the guest rooms and painting gallery, the sacral exhibition pieces from the Altenberg Monastery, the hunting paintings by Johannes Deiker, and the cannon square. Other things to visit are the Princely Family Museum and the castle church with displays about the church's building history.
