Garden architecture and freestanding rock formations
A special kind of landscape park characterises the surroundings of Altenstein Castle in Bad Liebenstein. Located at the western foothills of the Thuringian Forest halfway up the Rennsteig, the extraordinarily extensive mountain park offers sweeping views of the Werra Valley and as far as the Rhön. The paths follow the mountainous terrain, leading through natural forest areas and past rugged rock formations. Time and again, you will come across small architectural structures such as the Chinese Cottage, the Flower Basket Rock, the Knight’s Chapel or the Devil’s Bridge. They date back to around 1800, when the park was designed according to the then modern idea of a sentimental landscape park. Later, the famous garden artist Hermann Fürst von Pückler-Muskau provided inspiration for the redesign.
At a glance
Construction measures
Due to construction work, the palace will not be open to the public until the end of 2026. The park is freely accessible.
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 Park
The Altenstein Landscape Park is characterised by the artistic fusion of the garden design with the landscape-defining rock formations. Around 1800, Duke Georg I of Saxe-Meiningen surrounded his summer residence with numerous sentimental-romantic landscape scenes in keeping with the idealised ideas of garden art at the end of the 18th century, e.g. the Devil’s Bridge, the Sennhütte, the Chinese Cottage and the Chinese Rotunda. Around the middle of the 19th century, three of the most famous German garden artists, Hermann Fürst von Pückler-Muskau, Carl Eduard Petzold and Peter Joseph Lenné, were active on the Altenstein and completed the park with targeted planting and a system of visual axes. The final design of the park dates back to George II from 1866. When the palace was remodelled in 1888-90, the palace terraces and inner park were intensively landscaped with flowerbeds and exotic trees and shrubs. The large carpet bed is planted every year according to historical models and is one of the attractions in the palace park.
Flower basket rock
The Flower Basket Rock was created in 1802/03 when Duke Georg I of Saxe-Meiningen had the ensemble built in honour of his late mother Charlotte Amalie. He used an 18 metre high rock needle for this purpose, the top of which was given a small walk-on platform with a large stone flower basket. At the foot of the rock, under a grotto-like vault, the Griffin Bench was created with a bust of Charlotte Amalie on the backrest. Around the same time, other small architectural structures were also erected in the park, such as the Knights’ Chapel, the Chinese Cottage and the Devil’s Bridge.
The Altenstein griffin bench was modelled on ancient benches in Pompeii, a popular destination for European aristocrats around 1800. Semi-circular stone benches with griffins on their cheeks became popular furnishings in landscape gardens north of the Alps. Duke George I used the motif in the ancient sense as a place of remembrance.
Sandstone was used as the material for the flower basket and gryphon bench.
Just a few kilometres from Thuringia’s oldest spa town, Bad Liebenstein, lies Altenstein Palace. Built in the Neo-Renaissance style, it once served the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen as a summer residence. The palace 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 palace has housed a memorial to Johannes Brahms, who visited several times.
Palace Complex
Altenstein Palace owes its present appearance to Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen (1826–1914). Politically, his duchy played a rather minor role in the interplay of the European great powers. Nevertheless, the small Saxe-Meiningen gained Europe-wide renown, as its art-loving ruler went down in history as the “Theatre Duke”. Georg II directed productions, designed costumes and stage sets, wrote treatises on director’s theatre, and brought the Meiningen Court Orchestra renewed fame. Within two years he had the palace on the Altenstein fundamentally remodelled, which caused his court architect quite a headache. For the duke, whose understanding of art was shaped by historicism, had clear ideas and strict requirements. The result was a building in the style of English manor houses – with scrolled stepped gables, curved windows, semi-circular bays, numerous chimneys and obelisk finials. In summer, the Altenstein Palace often served as the residential seat of the ducal family and developed into a place of muse. The duke invited intellectuals, artists and musicians there, including the composer Johannes Brahms, who visited Altenstein Palace several times. In November 1894, he wrote to Clara Schumann: “I wish (…) you could sit here at my window, step onto my balcony and then out into the glorious park and forest. The most beautiful pheasants, stags and deer stroll about by the dozen.”
Brahms Memorial and Snuff Bottles
Today, Altenstein Palace is one of the few places that still have a direct connection to Brahms’s life. The Brahms Memorial therefore displays, among other things, precious autographs, first editions and original pictures. After a fire in 1982 destroyed the Altenstein Palace’s built-in historic interior, the opening of the memorial marked an important milestone on the road to the complete restoration of the palace.
Altenstein, Schloss Altenstein, Brahm's Gedenkstätte, 1. OGAltenstein, Schloss Altenstein, Chinesisches Kabinett, Snuf Bottles, 1. OG
The Park: A “Gem” of Landscape Architecture
The beginnings of today’s extensive park go back to Georg I of Saxe-Meiningen (1771–1803). The duke made Altenstein Palace his summer residence and began to establish a landscape garden. In doing so, he laid the foundation stone for one of the largest historic parks in Thuringia. In 1853, the local historian Georg Brückner wrote of the “gem of Thuringian forest nature”. No wonder: famous landscape architects such as Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau and Peter Joseph Lenné contributed important ideas to the design of the park. Pückler-Muskau was enthusiastic during his visits about the “wonderful setting, luxuriant lawns, (…) precipitously plunging rocks with terraced gardens”, yet he did not fail to offer “advice on the park layout” – and so large sight lines were created, opening views over the River Werra Valley. The expansive park also entices with viewpoints and park structures such as the Morning Plateau, the Knights’ Chapel, and the Chinese Pavilion. Around the palace, you will find the Altenstein carpet bed and the knot bed.
Beneath the park lies the Altenstein Cave, discovered in 1799 during roadworks. In 1800, Duke Georg I had an underground landscape park created here. This park has been open to the public again as part of guided tours since December 2023.
