Romrod Castle (Germany)

Romrod Castle is a palace complex in Romrod near Alsfeld in the Vogelsberg district in Hesse. The complex goes back to an older moated castle of the Lords of Romrod, which was probably built in the 12th century. Later it fell to the landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt, who had the castle converted into a hunting lodge.

Romrod was first mentioned in a document in 1197, when in a document from the Fulda monastery under Abbot Heinrich III. von Cronberg, a Ludwig von Rumerot appears as a witness to a goods transfer. The ministerial family probably belonged to the followers of the Landgraves of Thuringia, but there is also evidence of them in the Fulda area.

Heinrich von Romrod built Herzberg Castle towards the end of the 13th century and gave it as a fief to the Landgrave of Hesse. The family then divided into two lines, one of which was named after the new castle of Herzfeld. The male line of the Romroder line died out around the middle of the 14th century, after which the heiress sold the castle to the landgraves Heinrich II and Otto. The castle was occupied by Burgmannen and finally came into direct Hessian possession around 1400.

In the course of the Hessian division of inheritance after the death of Philip the Magnanimous, Romrod Castle first came to Landgrave Ludwig IV of Hesse-Marburg. Between 1578 and 1587 he had a large part of the castle building demolished due to dilapidation. The new buildings of this period essentially gave the castle its current appearance. After Ludwig's death in 1604, the castle fell to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. Until 1829 it served as the seat of a county office. The palace was then rebuilt again, mainly between 1878 and 1885, and served as a summer residence for the grand ducal family. In return, the nearest train station, Zell-Romrod, was given its own princely room for the reception of the "highest lords".

In the property dispute between the People's State of Hesse and the last Grand Duke of Hesse and near the Rhine, Ernst Ludwig, the palace was awarded to the former Grand Duke in the first agreement of 1919. In the second contract of 1930, which was concluded due to the inflation of 1923, the castle fell to the former grand duke for life only and thus one year after his death in 1938 to the People's State of Hesse.[3] After the Second World War it was used as a shelter for refugees until the 1970s. It then stood empty for years and threatened to fall into disrepair until it was acquired by the German Foundation for Monument Protection in 1997. Today the castle houses a hotel. Between 1996 and 2002 extensive archaeological excavations took place in the castle area.

Since 2006, the palace has been the seat of the Rural Area Network forum with an extensive program of events (including further education and training) and a branch of the monument academy.