COBURG | Ehrenburg Palace

October 2024. During a week-long whistle-stop tour of Germany, we visit Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt, Weimar in Thuringia, Coburg in Upper Franconia (Bavaria) and Kassel in Hesse. Smaller cities, yes. But each with their own significance. Untouched by overtourism. We’re avoiding using the white trains of DB Fernverkehr, Deutsche Bahn‘s long-distance section and opt to use the red trains of DB Regio and other regional operators.

The third leg of our week-long whistle-stop tour was Coburg, in Upper Franconia, in Bavaria, in Germany. Coburg, of course, is deeply linked to the Saxe-Coburg or Wettin dynasty and specifically to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Kings of the Belgians are Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

After checking in at the hotel, we started our visit. There are two main sites related to the royal and ducal house. Ehrenburg Palace (Schloss Ehrenburg) and Coburg Fortress (Veste Coburg).

As Ehrenburg Palace is situated in town, we started there.

Ehrenburg Palace

Ehrenburg Palace served as the primary residence for the ruling princes of Coburg from the 1540s until 1918. Its present-day exterior predominantly reflects the Gothic Revival style.

The palace was originally constructed between 1543 and 1547 by Johann Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, to replace the Veste Coburg as the town residence of the dukes. Built on the site of a former Franciscan monastery dissolved during the Reformation, it is traditionally said to have been named Ehrenburg, ‘Palace of Honour‘, by Emperor Charles V in recognition of its construction without the use of forced labour.

Significant changes were made under Duke Johann Casimir, who oversaw the addition of the south wing, designed by Renaissance architect Michael Frey, around 1590.

In 1690, a fire destroyed the northern section of the palace, prompting Duke Albert V to rebuild it in the Baroque style. By 1699, major reconstruction included a new chapel in the west wing, and extensions to the east wing and central structure gave the palace its basic modern layout.

During the 19th century, Duke Ernst I commissioned architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel to redesign the palace in the English Gothic Revival style, starting in 1810. Most of the work, including the sandstone façade and extensive interior redesign in the French Empire style, was carried out between 1816 and 1840.

Ehrenburg Palace looks very English indeed.

Regal gathering place

As the residence of the ducal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (formerly Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld), Ehrenburg Palace was the site of numerous royal events. In 1863,

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, whose mother, Princess Victoria, and husband, Prince Albert, had both been raised there, met Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria in the Hall of Giants, a moment commemorated by a plaque.

Another historic occasion occurred in 1894, when the wedding of Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha brought together an extraordinary assembly of European royalty, including Queen Victoria, future King Edward VII, future King George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and the future Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Today, Ehrenburg Palace functions as a museum. It houses art galleries featuring works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Dutch and Flemish artists of the 16th and 17th centuries, and Romantic landscape paintings, among other exhibits.

A visit

The palace can only be visited by guided tour and when we were there, there were only tours in German. During the tour, photography is not allowed. And as there were few people, it’s hard to take sneaky photos.

I took two photos. One of of the portrait of Leopold I, King of the Belgians and starter of the monarchy in Belgium. The other of the throne. But that photo was too blurred to keep.

But still, I’m happy to have visited this palace with a lot of significance for Belgium and many other countries in Europe.

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