Emergence, destruction and reconstruction
© Image: Hambach Castle, prior to destruction towards the end of the Middle Ages. Reconstruction by Straub
A raised Roman settlement appears on the site of the present castle mount around 350 AD The castle is developed around 1000 under the Salian Kaisers. Around 1100, it becomes the property of the Prince Bishops of Speyer. The building was extended during the period when the Staufer Kaisers were in power. Rebellious peasants pillage the castle in 1525 during the Peasant War. The Margrave Albrecht Alikibiades von Brandenburg-Kulmbach allows the destruction of the castle in 1552 during a series of robberies. Further destruction is brought about by the French during the Palatine war of succession in 1688/89. In 1797, the French state takes possession of Hambach Castle. In 1816, following the Vienna Congress, the castle, like the Palatinate itself, becomes Bavarian and later becomes the property of a private owner in Neustadt. In 1842, the Bavarian Crown Prince Maximilian receives the castle as a gift from the people of the Palatinate and it is renamed "Maxburg" in honour of the Crown Prince.
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Between 1844 and 1846 the leading Munich architect, August von Voit attempts to convert Hambach Castle into a "Palatine Hohenschwangau" for the later King Max II. The work is not completed.
© Image: Maxburg, 1845 (Fiction). Photographer: Kurt Diehl
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| Hambach Castle remains a ruin until after the Second World War. Initial redevelopments begin when the castle is handed over to the former district of Neustadt by the Wittelsbach equalising fund in 1952. A roof is put into place. The district of Bad Dürkheim, as the legal successor to the district of Neustadt, reconstructed the castle from the ruins for the 150th anniversary of the "Hambach Festival". The Land of the Rhineland Palatinate and the Federal Republic of Germany contributed to the construction costs, which totalled approximately 12 million marks. The banqueting hall and two smaller halls are created. They are named after the protagonists, Dr. Wirth and Dr. Siebenpfeiffer. On the request of the memorial authorities, the only visible materials permitted were sandstone, wrought iron and wood.
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The first permanent exhibition, "Unity and Freedom - Germany and Europe" is set up in the new upper floor. It is replaced in 1998 by the multimedia-exhibition, "A Festival for Freedom".
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Castle history
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