Hessen: Löwenburg in Kassel
This wall was a fake from the start: it looked old and defenseless, but only served one goal: pleasure.
From 1793 Landgrave Wilhelm IX.
of Hessen-Kassel build the Löwenburg in the style of a medieval ruin.
Here he retired with his mistress Karoline von Schlotheim.
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Visible from afar as a pseudo-dilapidated castle, Wilhelm and Karoline had it nobly in the rooms, which were decorated with paintings, tapestries and bronzes.
There was also an armory, as well as a chapel and a crypt that serves Wilhelm as his final resting place to this day.
The Löwenburg is in Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe;
in the Second World War it was damaged - and thus a ruin.
Restoration work began in 2005.
Therefore, only the chapel and armory were accessible before the corona lockdown.
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The Löwenburg is currently completely closed, but due to the new easing it is being checked whether and when it can be reopened.
Visitors should inquire in advance and can otherwise explore the Bergpark and Wilhelmshöhe Palace (https://museum-kassel.de/).
Source: WORLD infographic
Baden-Württenberg: Heidelberg Castle
"From a swelling wave of bright green foliage rises (...) the huge ruins of Heidelberg Castle with empty arches, ivy-armored battlements, weathered towers (...) abandoned, dethroned, storm-lashed, but still princely and beautiful." That is how Mark Twain took the ruinous Building came true when he explored the Neckar valley in 1878.
The landmark of Heidelberg, built from regional red sandstone over a period of around 300 years from the 13th century, is still princely and beautiful today, as it towers over the old town on the north slope of the Königstuhl.
Heidelberg Castle is Germany's most famous ruin
Source: Getty Images / Hiroshi Higuchi
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Once only the Electors of the Palatinate, who resided here, could enjoy the view of the valley floor from above;
today the complex has long been owned by tourists.
The magnificent building was destroyed in the Palatinate War of Succession from 1689, with which Louis XIV further consolidated France's supremacy in Europe.
Today the magnificent palace complex, the restoration of which was abandoned after a lightning strike and subsequent fire in the 18th century, is Germany's most famous ruin (schloss-heidelberg.de).
Brandenburg: Ruins mountain in Potsdam
Across from Sanssouci Palace is Potsdam's bizarre attraction.
In 1748, Frederick the Great had a round basin built on a hill to water a fountain in the palace gardens.
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But the wind wasn't blowing steadily enough to drive the windmills that were supposed to pump the necessary water up from the Havel.
Friedrich then had artificial ruins built around the basin in the style of antiquity, which seem bizarre in their composition, but corresponded to the taste of the time: Roman columns, a Greek round temple with roof damage, next to the wall of a Roman theater.
The ruins mountain in Potsdam is located across from Sanssouci Palace
Source: picture alliance / dpa
So the 74 meter high hill got a name: Ruinsberg.
In the 19th century the ensemble was supplemented by the crenellated Norman tower (potsdam-park-sanssouci.de).
Lower Saxony / Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Dömitzer Bahnbrücke
In April 1945 the Allies flew an air raid on the 985-meter-long Dömitz railway bridge, which consisted of over 20 individual bridges.
As a result of the bombing, part of it fell into the Elbe.
The remains of the bridge, which was built between 1870 and 1873, became an excellent symbol of German division: the German-German border ran at the destroyed site until 1990, the reconstruction was not carried out, the connection between Mecklenburg and Lower Saxony was clearly cut.
In 1978 the German Federal Railroad had the river superstructures on the western side removed due to the risk of collapse.
In 1987 the GDR tore off the eastern bridgehead.
The remains of the railway bridge over the Elbe near Dömitz
Source: picture alliance / dpa
The western bridgehead, under which the Elbe Cycle Path runs, and the 16 foreshore bridges over the floodplains in Lower Saxony's Elbe foreland, have been preserved.
The ruin is not allowed to be entered, further renovation plans have not yet been implemented.
If you want to go to the other side of the river today, you have to take the road bridge built after the fall of the river.
There it is worth visiting the Museum fortress Dömitz, in which, among other things, the history of the bridge is retold.
And if you need the perfect photo: The industrial monument can be snapped particularly well from the Dömitzer Elbe dike (doemitz.de).
North Rhine-Westphalia: Kaiserpfalzruine Kaiserswerth
It must have been a special spectacle when Friedrich I Barbarossa had huge cubes of volcanic rock transported from the Drachenfels in the Siebengebirge over around 100 kilometers down the Rhine from 1174.
In the north of today's Düsseldorf, the emperor had
a castle built into a monumental fortress
on what was then the Rhine island of Kaiserswerth (old German means
werth
island) in order to collect the Rhine toll at the intersection of two important trade routes.
The Kaiserpfalzruine Kaiserswerth is up to 50 meters wide
Source: picture alliance / imageBROKER
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The remains of the wall still shape the face of the Kaiserswerth district on the river side, and they are nicely lit up in the dark.
Walls up to 4.5 meters thick have been preserved, and grass grows in the cracks.
The bulwark is still 50 meters wide, although it was damaged in several armed conflicts and finally shot at with cannons, captured and blown up during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702;
after that it served as a quarry for years.
The imperial palace was actually considered impregnable, but a trick was used to crack the fortress: the attackers drained the arm of the Rhine east of the island and were able to take it by land.
It is no longer that difficult for visitors today - the place is no longer an island.
Guided tours are organized on request (kaiserpfalz-kaiserswerth.de).
Saxony: Oybin monastery and castle
Caspar David Friedrich set a monument to the ruins of Oybin in 1823 with his oil painting "Hutten's Grave".
It can be viewed in the Weimar Castle Museum.
A visit to the original location is more exciting, because the remains of the Oybin monastery and castle on one of the most bizarre rocks in the Zittau Mountains look eerily beautiful.
The remains of the fortress and monastery Oybin are a popular tourist destination in the Zittau Mountains
Source: picture alliance / ZB
You can hike up the mountain from the center of the health resort Oybin on the Czech border.
Painters still set up their easels where in the 14th century Celestine monks resided in the monastery and the god-fearing emperor Charles IV in the castle.
The Reformation put an end to monastery life, in 1577 a lightning strike caused great damage, around 100 years later a rock ledge destroyed other buildings.
The ongoing renovation work did not begin until 1992.
The two to three hours that you need for the 31 stations of the history trail are time well invested (burgundkloster-oybin.com).
Hamburg: St. Nikolai
The story of St. Nikolai is a story of destruction.
The year 1589: A lightning bolt destroyed the tower of the Gothic church building.
1644: The successor tower also collapses after a storm.
1842: St. Nikolai fell victim to the big fire in Hamburg.
The neo-Gothic successor building is crowned by a 147.3 meter high church tower, the tallest building in the world at the time.
Then July 28, 1943: During the bombing of the Royal Air Force in World War II, the church was again largely destroyed.
The St. Nikolai Church in Hamburg has an eventful history
Source: picture alliance / imageBROKER
After the war, the Senate decided not to rebuild the ruins in the then depopulated inner city.
From 2014 to 2017 the St. Nikolai memorial will be restored and the tower cross freshly gilded.
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Today a glass elevator goes to a viewing platform at 76 meters.
From above you have a perfect view of the Speicherstadt, the Elbphilharmonie and the Alster.
If you are interested in the changeful history of St. Nikolai, you can go down to the museum in the basement of the ruin (mahnmal-st-nikolai.de).
More tips for a vacation on your doorstep:
Who pays if I am not allowed to travel?
The trip is booked, so off on vacation.
But because of the corona pandemic, the authorities may prohibit a trip or an overnight stay.
Kay Rodegra, lawyer specializing in travel law, will inform you who will pay the costs in such cases.
Source: WELT / Thomas Klug
This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We will be happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.
Source: WELT AM SONNTAG