Perched high above the small town of Stolberg is the ancestral castle of Juliana, daughter of the Stolberg family and direct ancestor of Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands.
The Dutch royal family is closely linked to the history of northern and central Germany. It has its origins in the southern Harz Mountains, at Stolberg Castle.
It was here that Juliana von Stolberg and Wernigerode was born in 1506. She spent the first 13 years of her life in the count's castle complex. She is the mother of William of Orange and is still revered today as the ancestress of the Orange family. A visit to Stolberg Castle high above the medieval half-timbered town is a must for anyone following the Orange Route across Germany and the Netherlands.
From the beginning of the 13th century until 1945, the castle was the seat of the Counts and Princes of Stolberg. Over the centuries, the original medieval castle complex was transformed into a palace with Renaissance and Baroque wings. Karl Friedrich Schinkel also left his mark: The classicist Grand Reception Room and the Red Salon were created according to his designs. From 1951, the palace served as a rest home for the teachers' union in the former GDR. After political change, the building passed into the ownership of the German Foundation for Monument Protection in 2002, which has been carefully renovating and restoring it ever since. Stolberg Castle is a cultural highlight of supra-regional importance. In order to secure this important monument for the future, the German Foundation for Monument Protection took ownership of it in 2002 and thus bears permanent responsibility for its preservation. Thanks to extensive work by the private foundation, it is now once again a living historical site, parts of which are open to the public, such as the castle chapel, part of the prince's wing with the "Haus des Gastes" and the south wing.
The castle gardens are a particular highlight. Here you will find baroque and modern terraced gardens along the castle hill as well as a forest park with a deer alley and deer monument. These are part of the Garden Dreams - Historical Parks in Saxony-Anhalt.
