1847Demolition of the landgrave’s castle

On February 8, 1847, all authorities (city council, district council, senior building authority) voted not – as we would wish today – to renovate and refurbish the Alsfeld district court, but to demolish it. This was of great significance, as the district court was housed in the former Landgrave’s Palace of Hermann “the Learned”, meaning that this historically significant building was irretrievably lost from the townscape.

In the eighties of the 14th century, the landgrave decided to make Alsfeld his residence town and to have a castle built there: proof of the importance of the town at the time. Three engravings, by Dilich (1605), Merian (1640) and an unknown artist, give us an idea of the approximate appearance of the landgrave’s castle, which had a brick-built, stone first floor, topped by two or possibly even three further storeys and a high Gothic roof, and was adorned with eight turrets.

After the decision to demolish the building, the demolition work, including carpentry and masonry, was put out to tender several times. This meant that Alsfeld citizens willing to build could buy timber, sleepers, purlins, beams, posts, stairs, railings, doors, windows, stones, etc. directly on site at the demolition site. In many an older Alsfeld house today, original components from the castle that were installed in the mid-19th century can still be found. (MNic)