Heidecksburg Castle in Rudolstadt

Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg

Heidecksburg Castle in Rudolstadt is one of the most magnificent baroque castles in the state of Thuringia. Situated on a mountain spur, the castle, visible from afar, rises as a city crown above the former residential city.

History

Only the preserved vaults and the remains of the walls in the cellar area remind of the old castle complex from the 13th century. When the three-winged Renaissance castle complex was partially destroyed by fire in 1735, the opportunity arose for a new construction, which was to demonstrate the new representative claim of the Schwarzburgs, who had been elevated to the rank of princes.
The reigning Prince Friedrich Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1692-1744) brought the Saxon Chief Land Architecture Master Johann Christoph Knöffel (1686-1752) to Rudolstadt to entrust him with this task. His plans, as well as the execution that took place after 1737, reveal that cool Dresden Late Baroque that was typical of that time in Saxony.

The strained financial situation at court as well as Knöffel's obligations in Dresden, which made it impossible for him to supervise the construction work in Rudolstadt with the necessary care, ultimately led to Gottfried Heinrich Krohne (1703-1756), a native of Weimar, being entrusted with the continuation of the construction work.

As already planned by Knöffel, Krohne grouped rooms on both sides of the ballroom into closed apartments. However, he modified the cool classical interior design and introduced the cheerful rococo style of Southern Germany, which is most sensually expressed in the ballroom, which spans two floors.

Renowned artists were involved in the decoration of the rooms, including the stucco artist Jean Baptiste Pedrozzi (1710-1778), who executed the unique stucco work in the ballroom and in the two apartments, and Lorenz Deisinger, who created the ceiling painting "Council of the Gods" in the ballroom.
The supraport paintings in the ceremonial rooms were created by Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712-1774) and Johann Ernst Heinsius (1731-1794).
The extensive art collection of the Castle Museum is housed in the former princely living quarters of the south wing. Paintings and furnishings from the late Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Empire, Classicism and Biedermeier periods through to Historicism can be found in the corresponding historic rooms.