We spent a night in a cozy little hotel. I like the experience we have during this vacation – spending nights in the small family hotels. It always gives us the ability to feel the soul of the country – its people 🙂
The weather forecast for the day promised us some sun in the morning and later a lot of rains. We decided to go and look at the remains of the old Ehrenberg Castle, while it is still dry – no one wanted to walk under the rain.
The first mentions about Ehrenberg Castle in documents were found in the 1296 – actually, those were records about financial costs for the construction. There is little left from the original castle since there were many later alterations and remodeling. First it was just wall and several houses for living and administration. But around 1500s the castle was fortified and towers were added. Century later – and castle had a new outer walls and a bastion.
Although Ehrenberg Castle has a very interesting fact in its history. We found out, that in 1717, for a short period of time, the son of Peter the Great, Tzarevich Alexey was hiding here from his Father, being accused of an attempt to seize the power. It was a tragic story, many historians are sure now that Tzarevich Alexey was seeking for protection from Peter the Great and waived his rights for the Throne. It is interesting that there are no documents found in the archives of Charles IV (his castle we visited in Czech Republic, what a coincidence!) that prove the fact about Tzarevich Alexey’s plans to seize the power.
That story didn’t end well, being promised forgiveness and a safe life by Peter the Great, Tzarevich Alexey returned back to Russia where he found death from torture.
The castle, built later nearby Fort Claudia and fortress Shloßkopf were the parts of the fortification system up until 1792, when it was ordered to be closed down. Since that time and up until 1970, the castle was slowly decaying, but then a private association bought it and started to manage Ehrenberg’s existence, trying to save it’s remains.
Where once was life, there are only silent walls now, speechless witnesses of the long gone people and their destiny. These stones were here way before us and will continue to be a way after…