Just a few kilometres from Thuringia’s oldest spa town, Bad Liebenstein, lies Altenstein Castle. Built in the Neo-Renaissance style, it once served the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen as a summer residence. The castle is surrounded by a picturesque landscape park with a Chinese Pavilion, elaborate carpet beds, and viewpoints over the River Werra Valley. None other than Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau was involved in the design of the park. Since 2017, the castle has housed a memorial to Johannes Brahms, who visited several times.
Due to construction work, the palace will not be open to the public until the end of 2026. The park is freely accessible.
Visitor Centre
Altenstein 8
36448 Bad Liebenstein
Tel: 03 69 61 – 73 80 64
email address
Website
Friends of Altenstein-Glücksbrunn e.V.
Website
Altenstein Visitor Centre
seasonal, April to October
Opening hours:
Tue – Fri 11 am – 3 pm
Sat/Sun, public holidays 11 am – 4 pm
Closed on Mondays
Park/Garden
Landscape park is freely accessible all year round
Altenstein Palace
Altenstein 4 | Cavalier’s House
36448 Bad Liebenstein
T: 03 69 61 – 7 02 22
e-mail
Park administration
Altenstein 4 | Kavaliershaus
36448 Bad Liebenstein
T: 03 69 61 – 738064
e-mail
Bruno the dragon is looking for his sister in one of the most beautiful landscape parks in Germany. Grab your explorer rucksack at the visitor centre and accompany him on his search! He will pass impressive rocks, ancient ruins and a majestic palace. Compass, binoculars, musical instruments and more will be used on this adventure.
The new children’s audio guide “Hör mal im Garten Altenstein” invites you to take a stroll through Altenstein Castle Park with the castle park cat. The castle park cat takes all interested parties on a one-hour tour of the inner and outer park. The cat has ruled over this large garden kingdom for 49 years. At 12 stations, dragons, ghosts and a cheeky little deer also have lots of interesting facts to tell about the historic park.
The audio guide was created as part of a holiday course. Ten participants aged between 10 and 17 lend their voices to the castle park cat and co. They guide young and old through the largest landscape park in Thuringia with its imposing rock formations, small park buildings and many great viewpoints. The children and young people chose the most exciting stations in the park themselves and realised the project as part of a week-long workshop. This included writing the dialogues, recording the texts, recording the sounds and directing the sound editing.
The project is a joint production of the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen, the Wartburg-Sparkasse, the Thüringer Landesmedienanstalt, Wartburg-Radio 96,5, the Jugendkunstschule Wartburgkreis e. V. and the Stiftung Thüringer Schlösser und Gärten.
About the “Listen!” project
The “Hör mal” project is a co-operation between schools, the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen, the Thuringian State Media Authority (TLM) and various institutions as sponsors of historical gardens. In many places in Thuringia, children and young people produce audio guides for children in a garden in their town. The aim is to deepen topics learnt in class and consolidate the knowledge acquired by the pupils. The school as a place of learning is expanded and the garden is established as a place of knowledge transfer. This project intensifies the bond between the pupils and their home town.
