Schwarzburg Palace Garden

Built on a mountain spur overlooking the Schwarza valley, this impressive castle was the ancestral home of the Schwarzburgs, one of the most powerful aristocratic families in Thuringia. From 1699 onwards, their claim to power was reflected in the design of the Kaisersaalgebäude (Imperial Hall Building), which also housed the precious orangery plants. In 1710, the Schwarzburgs were finally made Princes of the Roman Empire. More than two centuries later, the location became the birthplace of democracy in Germany, when Friedrich Ebert, the first democratic president of Germany, signed the Weimar Constitution, while vacationing in picturesque Schwarzburg.