Butzbach Things to Do

Built in 1803 as the first private home outside of the city walls, by Johann Jakob Sarasin, a rich Frankfurt restaurant owner and wine dealer, who opened this building as a guesthouse. Friedrich Ludwig Weidig was held prisoner here in 1833 for seven weeks.

An interesting building that was built at the height of the late Gothic stone-building period, in 1481, and served as a royal steward’s headquarters. The building was built directly on the city walls. Later it became the city castle for the Dukes of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich. There still is a wonderful Renaissance stairway, built in 1588. Since 1879 it’s been the county courthouse.

This was once the city residence of the Lords of Falkenstein (approx. 1321-1418), then it became the home of the House of Eppstein-Königstein, the Archbishop of Mainz, and finally a Hessian Landgrave castle. Landgrave Philipp of Hesse-Butzbach (1609-1643) transformed the partially burnt up castle into an opulent residence, which later became the home of his widow. In 1818 and 1824 it was redesigned to be an army base. The Gothic and Baroque elements of the castle are still intact today. The U.S. Army moved out of the castle in 1990. Now it has been planned to be used by civilians.

The historical grounds of the Butzbach Landgrave castle have been awakened from their nearly two hundred year Sleeping Beauty sleep, and have been given back to their builders – the people of Butzbach. Now it’s being transformed. What still will remain is the historic buildings, such as the castle dating back to the 14th century, the ball (play) room from the early 17th century, and the stalls from the beginning of the 19th century. In addition, it will receive a few new buildings from this century.

In other areas, the grounds with their surrounding walls will remain a border for the area. The city of Butzbach is looking for investors, who have good ideas of how to effective use this attractive area, and generally promote life in the city. What’s being changed is the castle park grounds and an attractive living and shopping area for the 9.1 hector area in the center of the city.

Built in 1725 by the city physics doctor, Dr. Fabricius in Baroque style, a half-timbered house with plastering and numerous plaster figures, and a lovely entry way. This was once the home of Weidig’s student, Christoph Rumpf (1815-1899).

This is an example of the few late Gothic, half stone Patrician homes in the city. Portions of the half-timbered construction were altered in the 18th/19th centuries. This was the ancestral home of the Buff Family, who became famous because of Goethe’s acquaintance, Lotte Buff, who was a key figure in the famous novel by Goethe, "The Misery of the Young Man Werther".

This is the late Gothic former relics (bones) house, with the St. Michael's and St. Catherine's Chapels next to it (built around 1433/35). This is an important stone building with late Gothic frescos (around 1475) of St. Michael. After the reformation, it served as a fire department, a flour weighing house, and a hay storage house, etc. From 1907 through 1991 the home town and typical costume museum was housed here.

Their famous dean, Gabriel Biel (approx. 1410-1495) was the founder and rector of the University of Tübingen and the last great theologist before the reformation. Landgrave Philipp of Hesse-Butzbach built this royal crypt (in 1622) and donated the organ (in 1614) and the pulpit (in 1617). This church harbors many wonderful cultural artifacts.

This church of today probably emerged from a basilica out of the 13th century, and was rebuilt into a Gothic nave church with three naves and choirs with about the same size, around 1500. The original Gothic bell tower roof top was replaced in 1606 with a Baroque one. The foundation of a Latin School in 1470 was the work of the "the brothers for common life" or the "Ball Brothers".