Kransberg Castle (Burgruine Kransberg)

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Hochtaunuskreis

Kransberg Castle, formerly spelled Cransberg, overlooks the village of the same name, part of Usingen, in the Taunus, some thirty kilometres north of Frankfurt. The Staufer built it around 1170 to complete a line of strongholds that included Friedberg, Königstein and Kronberg. Its keep from that period is the oldest surviving part. A palas and a stair tower were added around 1220. The castle then passed to the lords of Falkenstein, Eppstein and Königstein, to the counts of Stolberg, to the Archbishopric of Mainz, and in 1654 to the Waldbott von Bassenheim, who used it mainly as an agricultural estate. The von Biegeleben family renovated it extensively after 1875. In 1939 it was incorporated into the Adlerhorst headquarters and fitted with a deep bunker. In 1945 the Allies set up the "Dustbin" interrogation centre there, where Albert Speer and Wernher von Braun, among others, were held. The castle subsequently housed the Gehlen Organization. Today it is being restored room by room by its owner and hosts concerts, events and civil weddings.