Schwarzatal, Schloss Schwarzburg

Thuringia is rich in castles and fortresses, with more than 500 in the state. Schloss Schwarzburg, ancestral home of the Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, has an especially tension-filled history. It witnessed feudalism, absolutism, democracy, and National Socialism. In 1919, Friedrich Ebert signed the Weimar Constitution in Schwarzburg. Approximately 20 years later, during the Nazi dictatorship, the main building of the baroque complex was vandalized beyond recognition because it was to be converted into a so called Reichsgästehaus. After gutting measures and the beginning of the demolition of entire wings of the castle, the renovation was halted, and the facility was left in ruins. After 1945, much of the castle complex fell into disrepair, with only the Kaiser Hall building restored by 1970.

In 1994, the Stiftung Thüringer Schlösser und Gärten took over the complex. Since its founding in 1996, the Schloss Schwarzburg - Site of Democracy Association has also been committed to preserving the castle with great dedication. In 2010, the Foundation began renovating the Arsenal and securing the main building for initially neutral use, which had been hollowed out and structurally compromised by the renovation work. The brutal interventions in this building still serve as a unique, telling testament to Germany's history.

In 2012, the Foundation announced an ideas competition for dealing with the main building and its future appropriate use. The Weimar-based firm TeCTUM Hille-Kobelt Architects won the competition with its concept of reading traces and time, i.e., continuing to build within the existing structure while retaining the historical traces and their destruction. Their design aimed to make the Empress's Hall and the Ancestor's Hall in the main building accessible.

When the Zukunftswerkstatt Schwarzatal launched the "Resilientes Schwarzatal" project family with IBA Thuringia in 2014, Schloss Schwarzburg was included as a component. Schloss Schwarzburg is a baroque ensemble consisting of several buildings, including the gatehouse, armory, imperial hall, and the main building. The IBA project involves the expansion of the ancestral and gallery halls as project and event spaces, as well as the dissemination of the history of democracy. From then on, the foundation, the supporting association, and the IBA worked together to create a place of remembrance for democracy.

In 2016, as part of the project qualification, TeCTUM created the feasibility study for the partial expansion of the castle. After the foundation erected a new northern building with a staircase, the securing, expansion, and subsequent opening of the main building of the castle began in 2019 as part of the IBA project. The partial expansion was based on an extremely sensitive handling of the historical building substance, with only a few additions of modern materials rounding off the overall picture. During the restoration, there were often questions of craftsmanship, sometimes securing centimeters by centimeters along historical traces. After more than 80 years, the main building was accessible for the first time as a construction site in 2019.

The history of the castle and its significance should be conveyed spatially and narratively to the visitors on-site. At the instigation of the IBA, the Weimar agency musealis developed a script in 2017, which included an audio walk. The audio walk takes visitors through the 900-year history of the place. The focus is not only on the history and the construction project, but especially on the people who lived and ruled here, were brutally forced to work, have personal memories associated with the castle, or have immortalized themselves on the walls. The organization of the audio walk tours is in the hands of the Supporting Association Schloss Schwarzburg - Schloss Schwarzburg — Denkort der Demokratie e. V.. Since 2019, more than 2,500 curious people have used the audio walk.

In the summer of 2021, the ancestral and gallery halls of Schloss Schwarzburg were inaugurated. This makes the historical richness of this landmark in the Schwarzatal region once again experienceable. Finally, in 2022, the Place of Remembrance for Democracy received an interactive communication offering according to the plans of the agency C4 Berlin: with the digital guestbook, visitors can share their thoughts on democracy on a social media wall in the gallery hall, learn more about democracy projects, and browse the history of the castle. And thus continue the traces preserved on the walls digitally.

The Denkort der Demokratie and the Digital Guestbook can be explored as part of the audiowalk tours. Schloss Schwarzburg is part of the IBA project family in the Schwarzatal.