Wilhelmsthal Palace and Park near Eisenach

Summer Residence of the Weimar Court

The Wilhelmsthal Palace and Park complex is situated in the immediate vicinity of Eisenach and the Rennsteig. From 1698 onwards, Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Eisenach had a Baroque hunting lodge and pleasure palace complex built here, named after him. The east-west-facing open space, surrounded by the palace buildings, was complemented by a garden axis with northern and southern grounds. At the intersection of both axes stood the Old Palace as the corps de logis. The buildings and gardens were complemented by an artificial lake. Following the extinction of the Eisenach line, Wilhelmsthal passed to Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who commissioned the architect Gottfried Heinrich Krohne to carry out renovation work.

From 1795 onwards, Carl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach had the Baroque gardens transformed into a sprawling landscape park in accordance with his own vision. At the same time, the New Palace was built to form a new western boundary. Under Grand Duke Carl Alexander, the court gardener Hermann Jäger redesigned the landscape park from 1853 onwards based on designs by Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. After the Second World War, a children’s village was established in the palace. From 1992 onwards, Wilhelmsthal lay unused. In 2009, the Wilhelmsthal Palace and Park complex was transferred to the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation. Since then, restoration work has been carried out on the palace complex and in the park.

Wilhelmsthal Palace

Wilhelmsthal Palace Park

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