Weinheim, my home town, has given itself the monniker “The Two Castle Town”.
This is the Wachenburg, the younger one of the two, about 100 years old, built by student fraternities.
This is the Windeck, the older one, about 1000 years old, built to strengthen the influence of the abbey of Lorsch.
There are paths leading up to either, the choices are roads and paved paths as well as small, narrow footpaths through the woods. The latter are steeper but more fun to walk.
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#17 for Tourmaline’s Halloween Challenge: Haunted,
It’s difficult to see the building that is only about 100 years old in this photo. The ruin of castle Windeck in the middle is approximately 1000 years old, the tower on the far left, part of the old town wall, is several 100 years old. But the castle, called Wachenburg, right on top of the Wachenberg is pretty exactly 100 years old. The building was started in 1907 and completed in 1928.
It was meant to look like a medieval castle.
And althought the overall effect is just that, close up it looks just a bit too well preserved.
It was commissioned by a convocation of fraternities of students and they still have meetings up there.
If there are not there, it is used as an event location with a restaurant, and in summer beer garden.
Linked to A Photo A Week: 100 years or older.
Living in Germany it would have been indeed easy to find a building that is not only 100 years old but several hundreds. Close to my hometown, they found the foundations of a Roman estate dating back to the second century AD. But I decided to show the Wachenburg, one of the two castles overlooking Weinheim an der Bergstraße, in Germany. It looks like a Romanesque castle (the roof received new tiles a few years ago) but it is little over 100 years old. The main buildings were constructed between 1907 and 1913 by a Corps of former students (more information on these student fraternities can be found here) to serve as a memorial for members who had died during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870/71 and a location for their yearly meetings. Family lore has it that my grandfather worked on the roof gutters as a young tinsmith.
For the A Photo a Week Challenge: over 100 years old. For more old photos click here.
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