The exterior of the castle can be visited from Monday to Friday from 08:00 - 18:00. On weekends,
the outdoor area can be visited only as part of a guided tour of the city.
This text was translated with the free translation tool deepl.com.
Situated above the historic town centre, the baroque castle dominates the skyline of the former residential town of Hachenburg. Behind the majestic appearance of the magnificent baroque building lies an eventful history of utilisation. The impressive cultural monument has influenced the appearance of Hachenburg for centuries.
From trade routes to Hagenberg
Around the year 1200, Count Henry II of Sayn began building a castle in the Westerwald to provide better protection from robbers for travellers and traders on the nearby Cologne-Frankfurt and Cologne-Leipzig trade routes. Hagenberg Castle (Hagen = thorns) was built on a small basalt cone overgrown with thorn bushes near the settlement of Alderstatt in 1212 under his son. Heinrich III von Sayn is also mentioned as the first owner of the town and castle. Over the years, the town and castle developed into the centre of power of the count's house and thus the main residence. This is why the stays of renowned personalities are recorded in the history books, such as those of Kings Adolf von Nassau and Ludwig von Bayer around the year 1300, who granted today's Hachenburg its town charter in 1314.
Hachenburg Castle: yesterday and today
After several changes of ownership, the castle was destroyed in a major fire in 1654. It was not until Count Georg Friedrich von Kirchberg, who came from Thuringia and was the sole regent of the County of Sayn-Hachenburg, had the old castle converted into a Baroque palace between 1715 and 1746 by Julius Ludwig Rothweil, a renowned Nassau-Weilburg architect of the time. This period also saw the creation of what is still known today as the castle garden, a baroque garden with a pond, garden house and orangery. After eventful times, the castle came into the possession of the newly founded federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1946 and was used in a variety of ways, including as a local court building or forestry office and forestry school. Due to the high maintenance costs, people were happy when the castle became the property of ‘Schloß Hachenburg GmbH’ in 1971. However, the hotel project failed in 1973 and the Deutsche Bundesbank acquired the castle complex in a forced sale. Extensive renovations and restoration work were necessary to turn the dilapidated building into a training and further education centre and, from 1980, the (technical) university of the Deutsche Bundesbank. Since its foundation, more than 4,500 graduates have left the university. Today, around 400 students are enrolled in the dual Bachelor's degree programme (B.Sc.) ‘Central Banking’. While around 300 students are always on site at the Schlosscampus, the others are in practical phases at the Bundesbank's offices. In addition to the fact that the town of Hachenburg can claim the title of being one of the smallest university towns in Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbank is preserving and utilising a cultural monument worthy of protection with its modern university within historic walls.
The grounds of the castle can be entered from Monday to Friday (08:00-18:00).
At weekends, it is only possible to visit the grounds as part of a guided tour.
The city‘s castle is located at Hachenburg‘s highest point.
This text was translated by google translate
Contact and directions
Schlossberg 1
57627 Hachenburg
